Anthony Pico was a foster kid for most of his life. His mother was a crack addict who abandoned him, and he bounced around from house to house, relative to relative.

Nick Hornby's new story about a country so tiny, it's just a field, a few houses, a shop, and a café. There, a boy whose mom happens to be president of this minuscule nation is called upon to show his patriotism by playing on the national soccer team.

Alex Blumberg tells the story of an audacious act of rebranding done by a group of people who aren't normally thought of as very audacious: public librarians. In Michigan, they've started staging rock concerts in libraries.

The story of a hustler who wakes up every morning broke, hustles as much as $10,000, and then loses most of it by the time he goes to bed.

We hear the first part of our story about Archer Daniels Midland and FBI informant Mark Whitacre. In this half, Whitacre inadvertently ends up a cooperating witness—and turns himself into one of the best cooperating witnesses in the history of U.S. law enforcement, gathering evidence with an adeptness few have matched.

David Sedaris takes Ira on a tour of his favorite spots in Paris. He moved to France with no special feelings for the place.

A family dreams of life in rural Maine, moves there, and then things get really complicated.

A reading from the zine Motorbooty about the crisis of World Band Overpopulation. Then, This American Life contributor Sarah Vowell on someone who is not part of the world band overpopulation problem: Scott Lee, the world's greatest fan of the Fastbacks, a respected, semi-obscure Seattle alternative band.

Sandra's father decides, at age 70, to take a Chinese wife.

Cody's parents try to get him to unlearn some of what AJ taught him—and it's difficult.

A famous YouTuber gets harassed on the internet—no surprise there. What is surprising is who winds up harassing her, and what she does about it.

An endocrinologist wrote the show about a wave of parents coming to her to treat their short (but otherwise healthy) children with human growth hormone. Contributor Scott Brown investigates.

Reporter Emily Green happens to meet a man being sent back to Mexico who tells her he’s afraid of being kidnapped—and then, he gets kidnapped.

Raul felt like he had found his spot in the world: a job he was good at, a group of people he liked and admired. And then he got kicked out.

The stories of undocumented people so often sound cliche. Writer Karla Cornejo Villavicencio has heard all of them, and thought she could do better.

Ira watches videos of police behavior at protests. The videos were pulled from a Twitter thread (and corresponding spreadsheet) created by T.

When someone stole Jessamyn Lovell’s ID, she became obsessed with the thief. Miki Meek tells what happened.

For years one group of people has been trying to push a giant boulder to the top of a hill, like Sisyphus. But in this case, it looks like they’ve actually succeeded! David Kestenbaum spoke with four scientists who have been working on a coronavirus vaccine, one that was just shown to work.

Reporter Paul Tough and Host Ira Glass look at the biggest change in admissions this year: colleges no longer requiring the SATs. Paul speaks to a student whose SAT score determined her future.

A lot of music discovery happens when we are kids.

Vauhini Vara lost her sister when she was in college. Even though Vauhini’s a writer now, she’d never really been able to write about her sister.

Comedian Casey Wilson’s mom was a stabilizing force in her family. So after her unexpected death, both Casey and her father felt devastated and unmoored.

Producer Zoe Chace spends time with two brothers in Hungary, trying to win an election that’s basically impossible for them to win.