The story of two Americans—one white, one black—who go to South Africa and have very different opinions about what they find.

A man goes on a last big trip with his father who has Alzheimer's.

Four stories of people who read other people's mail, and what happens to them once they get caught up in these other lives.

Parents moving the family to some new place, hoping it works out for the kids.

We look at the legacy of the most moving, poetic inaugural speech in American history.

An interracial couple takes a plantation tour. And other stories in which someone's dream is someone else's nightmare.

Listeners sent us samples of what they're finding on the internet, including postings from Usenet groups, favorite web pages, and their own email.

Canadians claim they're no different from red-blooded Americans. We put their position to the test.

We want summer to be this wonderful break, but so often it fails to deliver.

A man tries to run for President as a utopian nudist, and other stories of people whose lives are organized around one thing.

Twenty-four people put one hand on a Hardbody pickup truck and wait...until only one person is left standing. Plus other stories of people trying to get rich quick.

Stories of when things go wrong. Really wrong.

Stories of people for whom death is a job—undertakers, homicide detectives, slaughterhouse workers, and others.

Stories about people who are not afraid of fire, though perhaps they should be.

The claustrophobia, freedom, and yearning people feel in small towns.

Stories about the delivery business and the people in it: UPS men, bike messengers, FedEx dispatchers.

Name changes are particularly American stories: they're the dream of starting over with a clean slate.

Radio producer Sandy Tolan was supposed to do a documentary about strippers with an aspiring writer—and stripper—named Susan. But then Susan disappeared.

Stories, tributes, and attempts to understand the Chairman of the Board.

Stories about our parents falling in love.

Stories about the border between mental health and mental illness.

Stories of people who handle dead animals. (Don't worry—it's not as gross as it sounds.) Featuring a story by George Saunders.

A man decides to live as if he'll die in six months. That, and other stories of starting life over.

Stories about the animalness of animals, the irreducible ways in which they are not human.

A portrait of Americans at the International Tribunal.

The intersection of Christmas and retail, including David Sedaris's "Santaland Diaries."

A family where the father was one kind of sissy and the son was another kind, and how the family was destroyed despite the fact that no one wanted it to be.

People struggling at the fringes of our nation's infotainment industry.

Stories about turkeys, chickens, ducks, and fowl of all kinds.

People who made a deal with the devil.

Trying to forget the past and move on.

Stories of the election you can't hear anywhere else.

Spalding Gray on finding the zen of skiing.

Stories of things that are supposed to be scary, but aren't.

Civil War reenactments, wax museums, simulated coal mines, fake ethnic restaurants, an ersatz Medieval castle, and other re-created worlds that thrive all across America.

Scott Carrier got a job interviewing schizophrenics. After awhile, he began to wonder if he was a schizophrenic himself.

We took out advertisements in Chicago inviting people to share letters they've received, sent, or found.

Stories that haven't fit into any of our regular "theme" shows.

Unusual stories from the 1996 Democratic Convention in Chicago.

Ira Glass spends a night at one of the most boisterous hot dog stands in the nation: Chicago's Wiener Circle.

Unusual stories about day-to-day life at the Republican Convention.

Stories of people whose lives are transformed by music.

What happens when a little idea starts to control you.

Unusual perspectives on the presumptive Republican nominee.

David Sedaris recalls the days when his mother and sister played armchair detective.

A story of youthful backstabbing by David Sedaris.

Ira's own father, Barry Glass, co-hosts this special Father's Day show.

The Chicago Bulls and their grip on Chicagoans' hearts and lives during the NBA playoffs.