People reach out in all kinds of ways to try to get their point across—messages in code, over the phone, and from beyond the grave.
A growing body of research that suggests we may be on the verge of a new approach to some of the biggest challenges facing American schools.
An estate attorney discovers a financial scheme that's all reward and no risk. The only catch? You have to die to get the money.
Favorite stories by our longtime contributor and friend David Rakoff.
An undercover FBI informant at the mosque in Orange County starts acting very odd.
Stories about people in trouble who look for help in mystifying places.
The chief of security for a Colombian drug cartel decides to take the cartel down.
People pretending to be people they're not: sometimes it's harmless, sometimes it's harmful, and sometimes it's hard to tell.
It used to be that the American expats in China were the big shots. But that's changed.
A woman gambles away her inheritance and then sues the casino, saying they're to blame.
A Guatemalan immigrant living near Boston gets a phone call with some very strange news about his past.
David Sedaris, Tig Notaro, Ryan Knighton, and the late David Rakoff in his final performance on the show.
Religion makes clear the difference between mortal sins and venial ones. But in our everyday lives, it can be really difficult to determine just how bad we've been.
Stories of people who can’t seem to stop getting in their own way.
Discovering just how much time members of Congress spend raising money.
All across the country right now, local and state governments are finding they can't pay their bills.
Stories of people who decide to flip their personalities and do the exact opposite of what they normally do.
A couple decides they need to sleep with other people before getting married, and a teenage boy falls for an undercover cop.
Alabama's new immigration law aims to make life so difficult for illegal immigrants that they will "self-deport."
The story of the European debt crisis is actually very surprising and dramatic.
This American Life has retracted this story.
A college rivalry goes viral, and personal.
Stories of what happens when humans and fowl collide.
Penn State fans and loyalists try to make sense of the actions of Coach Joe Paterno and school officials.
An orchestra teacher has a theory that he could kill cancer cells with electromagnetic waves.
Stories from the awkward, confusing, hormonally charged world of middle school.
Stories that pinpoint when people's boring old lives turn into something wildly unfamiliar.
What do you get when you take a P.I. firm, then add in a bunch of sexy soccer moms, official sponsorship from Glock, a lying boss, and delusions of grandeur? This week's show.
A man has to give up parts of his life as he learns to live hearing a tone in his head all the time.
We return to people who have been on the show in the last ten years, and whose lives were drastically altered by 9/11.
A sociologist collects journals filled with gossip about AIDS in Malawi.
We head to some of the happiest places on earth: amusement parks!
Like a lot of Mexican towns, Florencia has had its share of problems dealing with drug gangs. Until recently, when new narcos rolled into town.
Why would a company rent an office in a tiny town in East Texas, put a nameplate on the door, and leave it completely empty for a year?
Two professors each make a calculation that no one had made before.
Stories about people who find themselves either unexpectedly being singled out or doing the singling out.
Surprising stories of fathers trying to be good dads.
Nurses at a small Texas hospital report a well-connected doctor for dangerous medical practices, and find themselves under arrest.
We heard about a test that could determine if someone was a psychopath. So, naturally, our staff decided to take it.
An hour of stories about...this week.
The story of an entire country deciding whether to give up on just one of its citizens.
Stories of people pretending that everything is okay and ignoring the awful stuff that's staring them straight in the face.
A drug court program in Georgia where people with offenses that would get minimal or no sentences elsewhere sometimes end up in the system five to ten years.
Stories of people who've grown so accustomed to wartime that the lives they've left behind no longer make sense.
Stories about the perils of giving and receiving gifts.
