This American Life (Unofficial)

On this country's 250th birthday, we bring you stories about the most American people, places, objects, and social norms that make this country what it is.

We spend an hour in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter, behind and desperate, with people trying any damn thing they can think of.

Regular people trapped inside Greek myths.

One family faces the Trump administration’s ban on trans people serving in the military, and responds with a surprising secret weapon.

Since the war began in Iran, we've heard very little from people inside the country — and there's a reason for that. The entire country has been under an internet blackout. We worked with reporters Roxana Saberi and Fatemeh Jamalpour to get voice memos out of the country. Even though it was dangerous and difficult, people wanted to be heard.

At a time when the U.S. government is trying to make American history tidier, we try to learn from the mess. Including the untold, messy story of Paul and Essie Robeson.

M. Gessen returns to our show with a true-crime story that takes place entirely within their own family. This story comes to us from the producers at Serial Productions—who invented the true-crime podcast more than a decade ago—and from The New York Times.

In the early days of the radio show, Ira did a series of interviews with his parents that completely changed his relationship with them. This week, he returns to those interviews.

Two lawyers who work for ICE step forward and lift the curtain on what is really happening inside our immigration system right now.

People deciding to do things that most of us do NOT choose to do.

911 calls unlike any we’ve heard before, and other stories about immigration agents sweeping through America.

When a joke could get you killed, should you say it anyway? A group of Syrian comedians test the limits of their newfound freedom, a year after the fall of the brutal Assad regime.

People discovering information about their own lives that they did not know, and suddenly everything looks very different.

How one block in Portland, Oregon became a movie-set war zone that lots of people think is a real war zone.

When history comes knocking, you have to figure out what to do.

What’s in the box? What’s in the $%&ing box?!?

What’s great about living in a family is that everyone sees everything differently. Also, that’s what’s awful about living in a family. We go behind closed doors with two families.

Shalom Auslander goes on vacation with his family, suspects the beloved, chatty old man in the room next door is an imposter, and sets out to prove it. This and other stories about the pitfalls of making snap judgments about others.

America loves winners—now more than ever. But how do you get to a win in 2025 America? We watch someone trying to score a win in a game whose rules are being made up as she plays.

Three stories about the strange power inanimate objects can hold over us.

What happens when people create alternate versions of themselves and release them into the wild?

When Zohran Mamdani won the primary race for New York mayor, the Democratic establishment's lukewarm response echoed the treatment of another charismatic, unconventional candidate decades earlier. This week, we bring you the story of Harold Washington, the greatest politician you've probably never heard of, and the backlash that ensued when he became Chicago's first Black mayor.

A group of immigration judges, who almost never speak to the press, describes the dismantling of our immigration court system from the inside.

Things are different on college campuses this year. We see inside the drama, with students and staff.

Small human plans that run into much larger obstacles.