Podcast

This American Life

This American Life is a weekly public radio show, heard by 2.2 million people on more than 500 stations. Another 2.5 million people download the weekly podcast. It is hosted by Ira Glass, produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media, delivered to stations by PRX The Public Radio Exchange, and has won all of the major broadcasting awards.

Episodes

  • 717: Audience of One

    Sep 13 2020

    At a time when going to the movies is mostly out of the question, we bring the movies to you.

  • 716: Trail of Tears

    Sep 06 2020

    For the holiday weekend, a roadtrip through history. In this moment when Americans are tearing down monuments and rethinking how to address the shameful parts of America’s past, we return to a story from the early days of our radio show that took that on, in a vivid and complicated way. Sarah Vowell and her twin sister Amy headed out on the road to retrace the Trail of Tears – the route their Cherokee ancestors took when expelled from their own land – and reflected on the question, what are we s...more

  • 715: Long-Awaited Asteroid Finally Hits Earth

    Aug 30 2020

    Teachers, students and parents around the country have been bracing themselves all spring and summer long for the start of this unprecedented school year. This week, it's here.

  • 577: Something Only I Can See

    Aug 23 2020

    When you’re the only one who can see something, sometimes it feels like you’re in on a special secret. The hard part is getting anyone to believe your secret is real. This week, people trying to show others what they see—including a woman with muscular dystrophy who believes she has the same condition as an Olympic athlete.

  • 714: Day at the Beach

    Aug 16 2020

    It’s the last few weeks of summer, so we’re going to the beach! This week, stories from the surf and sand.

  • 713: Made to Be Broken

    Aug 09 2020

    From the moment we wake up in the morning there are a trillion rules — big and little — governing our lives. But sometimes, we encounter one we just can't abide by. In a pitched moment of rule-questioning, a show about rules and the people who break them. 

  • 712: Nice White Parents

    Aug 02 2020

    Years ago, producer Chana Joffe-Walt started reporting on one school in New York. She thought the story was about segregation and inequality in public schools. But the more she looked into it, the more she realized she was witnessing something else. She was seeing the inordinate power of white parents at this school. This is the first episode of Chana’s new mini-series: Nice White Parents. 

  • 711: How to Be Alone

    Jul 19 2020

    In space, in the ocean, by ourselves, or with others—we’re all just figuring out how to be apart.

  • 710: Umbrellas Down

    Jul 12 2020

    As China's new national security law tightens its control over Hong Kong, we return to our episode about last fall's anti-government protests and check in to see how people are responding.

  • 709: The Reprieve

    Jun 28 2020

    Michigan has passed its Covid-19 peak, and the state has started opening up. But it’s still been intensely difficult for the staff in the ICU at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. We've embedded with them over the past few months, and tracked how this pandemic has changed them and their city.