Podcast
This American Life
Hosted by Wicoto · EN
This American Life: The Full Visual Archive
First-person stories and investigative journalism that capture the essence of the American experience. From quirky subcultures to high-stakes political dramas, we bring you the stories that shape our nation.
🌍 SEE THE STORIES: Access the original documents, historical photos, and witness profiles for each episode by following the link in our descriptions.
👇 The journey continues here : https://goo.su/XwNQm
First-person stories and investigative journalism that capture the essence of the American experience. From quirky subcultures to high-stakes political dramas, we bring you the stories that shape our nation.
🌍 SEE THE STORIES: Access the original documents, historical photos, and witness profiles for each episode by following the link in our descriptions.
👇 The journey continues here : https://goo.su/XwNQm
15episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
888: Not Today, Hades!
Yesterday00:58:06Tap to summarizeRegular people trapped inside Greek myths. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.Prologue: When a mysterious, ripped-open package arrives on Pablo's doorstep, he takes it as a sign. (4 minutes)Act One: Pablo flies closer to the sun. (14 minutes)Act Two: In Greek mythology, there's Hades, where everyone goes when they die. You have to cross the river Styx to get there, and there’s a gate with this three-headed dog. He’s guarding the entrance and he’s supposed to make sure only actual dead people enter. This story is about a real person in America who stood at those very gates. Which is not the easiest job it turns out, at least not right now. (24 minutes)Act Three: A mortal gets the assignment of a lifetime — to go interview an actual god who is living on earth, traveling under the name of Lionel Messi. (11 minutes)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.orgThis American Life privacy policy.Learn more about sponsor message choices.🎬 SEE THE STORY UNFOLD:Want to see the original photos, documents, and the faces behind this week's acts?👇 View the visual archive for this episode here:https://goo.su/XwNQm(Updated for each story)
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137: The Book That Changed Your Life
1w ago00:59:42Tap to summarizeWe want to believe our lives can be changed by the ideas contained in a book. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.Prologue: When Alexa was seven, she started going through her grandfather's books. Her grandfather was a playwright and teacher, and through the books—and especially through his notes in the margins—she entered the world of 1930's American theater. And she found a book that changed her life: writer Moss Hart's autobiography Act One. (5 minutes)Act One: More of Alexa Junge and how Moss Hart's autobiography changed her life. She followed his path, learned specific lessons, and had a vision of him that was absolutely clear—until she met his widow. (10 minutes)Act Two: A book that changed a family's life—temporarily, and not for the better. David Sedaris on what happened when he found a dirty book in the woods and passed it along to his sisters. (9 minutes)Act Three: Reporter Jeremy Goldstein tells the story of a man who had many books change his life, even though he'd never read them. (14 minutes)Act Four: Writer Meghan Daum travels to De Smet, South Dakota—where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived and set most of her Little House books. What surprises her is how much it matches what she'd imagined. The people there seem to be genuinely living by the values Laura wrote about. (15 minutes)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.orgThis American Life privacy policy.Learn more about sponsor message choices.🎬 SEE THE STORY UNFOLD:Want to see the original photos, documents, and the faces behind this week's acts?👇 View the visual archive for this episode here:https://goo.su/XwNQm(Updated for each story)
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676: Here’s Looking at You, Kid
2w ago01:01:39Tap to summarizeAdults telling kids who they are, and kids wondering — are they right? Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.Prologue: Host Ira talks with comedian Gary Gulman about his transformation from high school nobody to football star. (8 minutes)Act One: Gary puts on a tough guy costume, but will it turn him into a tough guy? Ira continues Gary Gulman’s story. (17 minutes)Act Two: Eleanor Gordon-Smith tells the story of a woman who wants to know why she was taken away from her mom as a kid. A version of this story is in Eleanor’s book Stop Being Reasonable: How We Really Change Our Minds. (30 minutes)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.orgThis American Life privacy policy.Learn more about sponsor message choices.🎬 SEE THE STORY UNFOLD:Want to see the original photos, documents, and the faces behind this week's acts?👇 View the visual archive for this episode here:https://goo.su/XwNQm(Updated for each story)
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887: Two Is One, One Is None!
3w ago00:59:43Tap to summarizeOne family faces the Trump administration’s ban on trans people serving in the military, and responds with a surprising secret weapon. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.Prologue: Geirid and Chrissy are extreme planners. But about a year ago, they were confronted with a situation that even they had no idea how to plan for. (4 minutes)Act One: Geirid and Chrissy make an “in case of emergency, break glass” spreadsheet and get some big news. (14 minutes)Act Two: Geirid and Chrissy have less than a month to make a life-changing decision. The government gives them two options, and they try to find a third. (21 minutes)Act Three: A short story from Rachel Khong: Two people have a very consequential choice to make, given to them by God. (15 minutes)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.orgThis American Life privacy policy.Learn more about sponsor message choices.🎬 SEE THE STORY UNFOLD:Want to see the original photos, documents, and the faces behind this week's acts?👇 View the visual archive for this episode here:https://goo.su/XwNQm(Updated for each story)
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318: With Great Power
4w ago01:00:51Tap to summarizePeople who end up with far more power than they bargained for, and everything that comes with it. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.Prologue: Ira tells the story of two friends who had this incredible power to save someone. And with that great power came great responsibility. (4 minutes)Act One: Alex Kotlowitz reports on a woman with the power to change two people's lives — and at the height of her power, she doesn't even know she has it. (25 minutes)Act Two: Ira Glass talks with a mother and daughter who spent years watching their neighbor do things they found shocking and felt powerless to stop. Then, suddenly, they get the power to decisively change things permanently. And they have to decide if they will. (14 minutes)Act Three: When you're powerless, you spend a lot of time thinking about the people above you — what they want, why they do what they do, whether they'll ever come through. Shalom Auslander has a story about that relationship. (11 minutes)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.orgThis American Life privacy policy.Learn more about sponsor message choices.🎬 SEE THE STORY UNFOLD:Want to see the original photos, documents, and the faces behind this week's acts?👇 View the visual archive for this episode here:https://goo.su/XwNQm(Updated for each story)
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886: Blackout
May 301:00:55Tap to summarizeSince the war began in Iran, we've heard very little from people inside the country — and there's a reason for that. The entire country has been under an internet blackout. We worked with reporters Roxana Saberi and Fatemeh Jamalpour to get voice memos out of the country. Even though it was dangerous and difficult, people wanted to be heard. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.Prologue: Shirin's parents suddenly disappear into the blackout. (5 minutes)Act One: It’s a war and a blackout. People want to talk about both. (17 minutes)Act Two: What happened before America and Israel went to war with Iran. (9 minutes)Act Three: Iranians have many opinions about the war, and about each other. (12 minutes)Act Four: What happened inside Iran the night President Trump threatened that "a whole civilization could die." And a clue about where the internet blackout is headed. (19 minutes)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.orgThis American Life privacy policy.Learn more about sponsor message choices.🎬 SEE THE STORY UNFOLD:Want to see the original photos, documents, and the faces behind this week's acts?👇 View the visual archive for this episode here:https://goo.su/XwNQm(Updated for each story)
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Ira (Reluctantly) Gives a Graduation Speech
May 100:08:26Tap to summarizeIra always hated commencement speeches. Then he felt like he had to give this one. thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners🎬 SEE THE STORY UNFOLD:Want to see the original photos, documents, and the faces behind this week's acts?👇 View the visual archive for this episode here:https://goo.su/XwNQm(Updated for each story)
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466: Blackjack
Apr 2601:03:32Tap to summarizeThe casino game everyone thinks they can beat. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.Prologue: Host Ira Glass and producer Robyn Semien get a blackjack lesson from Andy Bloch, who played for the MIT blackjack team. He teaches them the basics of card-counting, the technique that gives players an advantage against the house — enough of an advantage that most casinos will ask you to leave if they catch you doing it. (9 minutes)Act One: Jack Hitt tells the story of the Christian card-counting team featured in the documentary Holy Rollers, and why they see no contradiction in being devout Christians who spend their days in casinos. (18 minutes)Act 2: Ira and Robyn go to the casino to try out their newfound card-counting skills. (5 minutes)Act Two: Producer Sarah Koenig tells the story of a woman who sued the casino where she lost her inheritance, saying that it was to blame, not her. (25 minutes)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.orgThis American Life privacy policy.Learn more about sponsor message choices.🎬 SEE THE STORY UNFOLD:Want to see the original photos, documents, and the faces behind this week's acts?👇 View the visual archive for this episode here:https://goo.su/XwNQm(Updated for each story)
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393: Infidelity
Apr 1900:57:51Tap to summarizeStories of cheating, cheaters, and the cheated. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.Prologue: Ira talks with Jessica Pressler about a phenomenon she noticed in the wedding notices in The New York Times. Couples were cheerfully telling—as part of their "meet cute" stories—how their relationships began with one of them cheating on a spouse or long-time partner. (4 minutes)Act One: From England, Ruby Wright has a story of an affair where—even years after it ended—it wasn't much discussed. (14 minutes)Act Two: Ira reviews some infidelity stats from his mother's book on the subject, Not Just Friends. And author James Braly tells a story of temptation live onstage at The Moth. (15 minutes)Act Three: Dani Shapiro on the confusing mess things can be during an affair. The story is from her memoir, Slow Motion. (16 minutes)Act Four: Etgar Keret describes the moment in the immediate aftermath of an affair. Actor Matt Malloy reads. (4 minutes)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.orgThis American Life privacy policy.Learn more about sponsor message choices.🎬 SEE THE STORY UNFOLD:Want to see the original photos, documents, and the faces behind this week's acts?👇 View the visual archive for this episode here:https://goo.su/XwNQm(Updated for each story)
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885: Bless This Mess
Apr 1200:59:47Tap to summarizeAt a time when the U.S. government is trying to make American history tidier, we try to learn from the mess. Including the untold, messy story of Paul and Essie Robeson. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.Prologue: Guest Host Emanuele Berry talks to Nichole Hill about the Black movie characters Nichole was curious about as a child. (7 minutes)Act One: A giant of the Harlem Renaissance, Paul Robeson was the most famous American of his day. Until he wasn’t. Nichole Hill tells the messy, complicated story of Paul and his wife, Essie Robeson. (38 minutes)Act Two: In 1865, a formerly enslaved man named Jourdan Anderson received a letter from his former enslaver, asking Jourdan to return to the plantation and work. Actor Laurence Fishburne reads Jourdan’s response. Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.orgThis American Life privacy policy.Learn more about sponsor message choices.🎬 SEE THE STORY UNFOLD:Want to see the original photos, documents, and the faces behind this week's acts?👇 View the visual archive for this episode here:https://goo.su/XwNQm(Updated for each story)
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