A show filled with stories of people going to great lengths to throw a special Christmas for their families.

Stories united by one thing: They all happened in the seven days prior to broadcast.

The This American Life staff confronts Ira about his dog, Piney.

Why Minnesotans don't talk much about the most important historical event ever to happen there.

Not only do the two sides disagree on the solutions to the country’s problems, they don’t even agree on what the problems are.

Stories of people breaking the rules fully, completely, and with no bad consequences.

Stories of how people cope after brushes with death.

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.