This American Life Archive

158: Mob Mentality 05.05.2000 ↓

The pleasure and the terror of being in a rampaging, angry mob.

157: Secret Life of Daytime 14.04.2000 ↓

All those people you see in the middle of the workday, in coffee shops and bookstores—why aren't they at work?

156: What Remains 31.03.2000 ↓

Stories of people revisiting what happened, and who they were back when.

155: Hoaxing Yourself (2000) 17.03.2000 ↓

Stories of people who tell a lie and then believe the lie more than anyone else does.

154: In Dog We Trust (2000) 10.03.2000 ↓

Exactly how much are the animals that live in our home caught up in everyday family dynamics?

153: Dolls 03.03.2000 ↓

The story of the book The Lonely Doll and its author, and how the author's life came to resemble something from her book.

152: Crush 11.02.2000 ↓

What if you held onto a high-school crush? Under what conditions would it never go away? Tobias Wolff reads a short story called "Kiss."

151: Primary 28.01.2000 ↓

Stories from the New Hampshire primary. We hear from voters who've found candidates they love. And we hear what those voters are seeing that the rest of us aren't.

150: Kids As Adults 21.01.2000 ↓

Stories of kids trying to act like adults—some by choice—some because they're forced to.

149: Bedside Diplomacy 14.01.2000 ↓

In the hospital, we're in a place that has its own rules and its own language and its own customs.

148: The Angels Wanna Wear My Red Suit 24.12.1999 ↓

The many, many different versions of Santa Claus.

147: A Teenager's Guide to God 17.12.1999 ↓

Oh faithless and perverse generation? How long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you?—Matthew 17.

146: Urban Nature 10.12.1999 ↓

David Rakoff visits Iceland, where the government is careful not to disturb certain boulders because some people believe that elves live there.

145: Poultry Slam 1999 26.11.1999 ↓

Our annual program about turkeys, chickens, fowl of all types, and their mysterious hold over our imaginations.

144: Where Words Fail 05.11.1999 ↓

People struggle to invent words adequate to cope with death.

143: Sentencing 22.10.1999 ↓

Have mandatory minimum sentences gone too far?

142: Barbara 15.10.1999 ↓

We hear the story of one African-American single mother who recorded her family's life over the course of seven months.

141: Invisible Worlds 01.10.1999 ↓

Stories of people who are trying to make invisible worlds visible.

140: Family Business 24.09.1999 ↓

What happens when the tension of family dynamics collides with the pressure of capitalist market forces.

139: Ghosts of Elections Past 03.09.1999 ↓

Stories designed to provide some small sense of hope about American politics.

138: The Real Thing 27.08.1999 ↓

Stories of people drawn to some idea, some picture, some "thing" that they just want to be.

137: The Book That Changed Your Life 20.08.1999 ↓

We want to believe our lives can be changed by a set of ideas contained in a book.

136: You Are Here 06.08.1999 ↓

Three stories, three people, and three sets of maps.

135: Allure of Crime 23.07.1999 ↓

Through our crimes, we express who we are.

134: We Didn’t 09.07.1999 ↓

It turns out that not falling in love, not doing our jobs, not spending time with our families is every bit as vivid and complicated an experience as doing something.