This American Life
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| Last updated Mon, 21 Jul 2008 06:00
Official free, weekly podcast of the award-winning radio show "This American Life." First-person stories and short fiction pieces that are touching, funny, and surprising. Hosted by Ira Glass, from WBEZ Chicago Public Radio. In mp3 and updated Mondays.
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Download Now · | Mon, 21 Jul 2008 06:00
When John returned from Iraq, he was haunted by the killing he'd done. He got treatment, and his case looked optimistic. Then John attacked his fiancée. This and other stories of people who've come face to face with death and are struggling to move on.
Download Now · | Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:04
Stories about the pitfalls of knowing just a little bit too little.
This American Life: This American Life: This American Life: #327: By Proxy
Download Now · | Tue, 08 Jul 2008 05:48
Stories of proxy fights, proxy arguments, and proxy situations of all kinds.
Download Now · | Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:28
Stories of social engineering on a small scale. In one, a man convinces his friend to try something new, turn his back on a good-paying salary and an apartment...and become homeless.
Download Now · | Mon, 23 Jun 2008 06:00
Josh's mother and younger brother were a mess. His mother drank too much. His brother got arrested a lot. Josh hadn't lived with them since he was nine, and they didn't play much of a role in his daily life--until duty called, and they took over his life.
This American Life: This American Life: This American Life: #357: The Truth Will Out
Download Now · | Tue, 17 Jun 2008 04:28
Does the truth always come out? Of course not! Though sometimes it comes out in the most uncomfortable ways imaginable. Stories of concealed truths bubbling to the surface, including a new, unpublished story by fiction writer and filmmaker Etgar Keret.
This American Life: This American Life: #332: The Ten Commandments
Download Now · | Mon, 09 Jun 2008 03:48
This American Life: #356: The Prosecutor
Download Now · | Tue, 03 Jun 2008 19:28
A lawyer in the Justice Department gets the professional opportunity of a lifetime: to be the lead prosecutor in one of the first high-profile terrorist cases since 9/11. But things go badly for him
This American Life: This American Life: #186: Prom
Download Now · | Mon, 26 May 2008 18:48
While the seniors danced at Prom Night 2001 in Hoisington, Kansas -- a town of about 3,000 -- a tornado hit the town, destroying about a third of it. Plus other stories from Prom Nights.
This American Life: This American Life: #335: Big Wide World
Download Now · | Mon, 19 May 2008 06:00
Haider was a teenager in Iraq when the war broke out. And he decided to do one of the least safe things possible: work for foreign media covering the war. Plus, other stories of what happens when you strike out into the world.
This American Life: This American Life: #355: The Giant Pool of Money
Download Now · | Mon, 12 May 2008 01:49
A special program about the housing crisis. We explain it all to you. Why did banks make half-million dollar loans to people without jobs or income? Why is everyone talking so much about the 1930s? It all comes back to one thing.
This American Life: This American Life: This American Life: #328: What I Learned from Television
Download Now · | Mon, 05 May 2008 09:20
Stories about what TV can teach us...and how TV lies to us. With music by Mates of State.
Download Now · | Wed, 30 Apr 2008 01:04
Stories of everyday people who get saddled with great power and the great sense of responsibility that goes with it.
This American Life: #354: Mistakes Were Made
Download Now · | Wed, 23 Apr 2008 08:28
It's the late 60's and one man sees a business opportunity in cryonics. Freezing people to be reanimated by scientists of the future: how hard can that be? This and other stories about the difficulty of taking responsibility for failure.
This American Life: #258: Leaving the Fold
Download Now · | Sun, 13 Apr 2008 23:52
Stories of people leaving the situation they're used to and striking off for something less familiar.
This American Life: This American Life: #166: Nobody's Family Is Going to Change
Download Now · | Mon, 07 Apr 2008 07:12
Three stories that ask: does anyone's family ever change? A woman goes to Alaska, hoping her brother might change a little. A sibling relationship that doesn't ever change--over decades. And what if literally nothing can change your dad?
This American Life: This American Life: This American Life: #353: The Audacity of Government
Download Now · | Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:40
We've noticed a trend in actions taken lately by the U.S. government. Tiny things you probably haven't heard of, but with big implications. So we've decided to spend an hour talking about the unrelenting, combative style of this Administration.
This American Life: #329: Nice Work If You Can Get It
Download Now · | Mon, 24 Mar 2008 22:20
A man makes his living getting lottery winners to sign over their jackpots. Sarah Vowell on the downside of the dream job. And John Hodgman on what happens when celebrity finds you--on your couch, pushing 40, a couple sizes larger than you'd like to be.
This American Life: This American Life: This American Life: #352: The Ghost of Bobby Dunbar
Download Now · | Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:56
In 1912 a boy named Bobby Dunbar went missing in a swamp in Louisiana. Eight months later, he was found. In 2004, his granddaughter discovered a secret beneath the legend of her grandfather's kidnapping. We devote our entire episode to the story.
Download Now · | Wed, 27 Feb 2008 13:28
Stories of people getting more testosterone and coming to regret it. And of people losing it and coming to appreciate life without it. The pros and cons of the hormone of desire.
This American Life: #349: Valentine's Day 2008
Download Now · | Mon, 18 Feb 2008 04:52
Stories about couples that all take place decades after that moment their eyes meet.
This American Life: #348: Tough Room
Download Now · | Tue, 12 Feb 2008 20:28
Comedy writers at The Onion pitch 700 story ideas a week. 16 make the cut. Also, a man on a mission of peace in a country that has one more slogan for him to push
This American Life: #326: Quiz Show
Download Now · | Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:52
A man with social anxiety goes through a transformation, a young woman with high ideals has them dashed, and teams compete to solve some of the hardest puzzles in the world, for fun. The secret life of quiz shows, behind the questions and answers.
Download Now · | Tue, 29 Jan 2008 03:32
An American reporter in Iraq decides to rent a house in a residential Baghdad neighborhood rather than live in a hotel and be an easy target for insurgents. And a little boy figures out an ingenious way to see his dead father again. Big ideas gone amok.
This American Life: #347: Matchmakers
Download Now · | Wed, 23 Jan 2008 19:20
Sabir thought he'd found true love but he couldn't afford a wedding. Two foreign aid workers come to his rescue; but they soon realize he needs more than money. This and other stories of people matching others up
