This American Life (Unofficial)

Every crime scene hides a story. In this week's show, we hear about crime scenes and the stories they tell.

Stories of a typically American kind of hero: The person who decides to fight city hall, who stands up alone for what's right, and damn the consequences. We hear the story of two idealists who work in government, two centuries after another set of idealists created the American government. Both of the modern idealists suffer and sacrifice because of their ideals; both lose their jobs.

Stories of people who did not want to move but circumstance forced their hands, and so they tried to move without really moving.

Imagine that you could somehow look down from above, onto all the streets and avenues and country roads and highways of this nation...each car below its own tiny subculture on wheels...glass and steel worlds rolling down the street alongside each other. We hear what's going on inside some of these cars.

In context of the Presidential contest between George W. Bush and Al Gore, we hear stories of character assassination—political and non-political.

Stories of moms: How they treat us, how we treat them.

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

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

Usually This American Life brings you stories of people in the middle of big experiences. But sometimes these moments of dramatic change are only half the story. The other half occurs after time passes and they return to revisit what happened, and who they were back when. Today's show is about what they find.

Stories of people who tell a lie and then believe the lie more than anyone else does. In other words: Stories about people pulling hoaxes...on themselves.

Stories of dogs and cats and other animals that live in our homes. Exactly how much are they caught up in everyday family dynamics? We answer this question and others.

Stories of what people are playing at when they play with dolls.

Stories of love in its earliest stage. Crushes: what's terrible about them, what's great about them and how they can overshadow real love for some people.

Today's program is made all of stories from the New Hampshire primary. Voters want to find a candidate who inspires them. Candidates want to inspire. So where's the system failing? Why do most of us feel like the system doesn't produce anyone inspiring? We hear stories that answer why. We hear from voters who've found candidates they love. And we hear what those voters are seeing that the rest of...

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

In the hospital, we give up our normal schedule and sleep patterns; we give up our normal food and clothing; we're in a place that has its own rules and its own language and its own customs. And in the midst of all this, there's this complicated human interaction we have to negotiate: We have to deal with doctors and nurses to get the care we need. In this show we hear stories of those delicate an...

A special Christmas edition of our show, with stories about Santa Claus—me It was in America, in New York, that people started believing in the modern idea of Santa—a guy who comes down the chimney with a sack of goodies. But America has invented a few other Santas as well.

It's an odd fact of religious life in America that in this country founded by Christians, in which a majority of people say they believe in God and identify themselves as Christians, that so many religious Christians feel they're an oppressed minority. They say the media doesn't share their values. That secular institutions undermine their beliefs. And the job of raising Christian children, they'l...

Stories of nature creeping into man-made environments. Of nature sneaking in places where its very presence is a rebuke to the notion that we as a species have things under control.

For Thanksgiving, the time of year when poultry consumption is highest, it's our annual program about turkeys, chickens, fowl of all types, and their mysterious hold over our imaginations. This show includes favorite stories from previous Poultry Shows, and some new stories.

One reason we tell stories is to explain things to ourselves that cannot, in the end, always be explained. When someone we're close to dies, we struggle for a way to get our minds around the fact of their absence. And often—the stories we invent aren't quite up to the job. In this week's show, people struggle to invent words adequate to cope with death.

We've all heard occasional news stories about how some of the drug laws enacted in the last 15 years may have gone too far. First time offenders get locked up for decades. Judges—even Republican appointees—say that mandatory minimum sentences prevent them from making fair rulings. But have sentences really gone too far? This hour examines the areas where a consensus is growing on the problems in f...

We hear the story of one African-American single mother. Barbara Clinkscales recorded her family's life over the course of seven months for This American Life. Her life defies—or makes irrelevant—most of our typical notions of inner-city, black single mothers.

Stories of people who are trying to make invisible worlds visible, and what happens when you make them visible.

Stories of family businesses, and what happens when the tension of family dynamics collides with the pressure of capitalist market forces.