A colossal effort to un-tame a whale and send him back to the ocean.
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For some people, Donald Trump’s victory is a hopeful thing. For others, the opposite. This week, we talk to people who helped make it happen and some who are looking to what’s next.
A wee flame, flickering in the dark.
People who tell a lie and then believe the lie more than anyone else.
Archive
Thirteen parole board members decide whether or not one man should be released from prison.
Abbas Alawieh, a leader in the Uncommitted movement, grapples with how to get his voters the thing they want.
Chen Almog-Goldstein tells the story of life as a hostage in Gaza.
One kid comes to America as an exchange student and commits herself to the senior year experience.
People trying and struggling to see what another person sees.
We spend a few days at the Iowa State Fair.
When the best—and perhaps only—way to say something is to write it down.
In a crisis, when all logic suggests that you get away from the dangerous thing, how will you respond?
People rethinking some of the most important relationships in their lives.
Boen Wang goes back to a day that changed the course of his family's story.
In Rafah, Yousef is out of options and faces his toughest move yet.
Donald Trump has a plan for his second term: retribution. We check in with the people who’ve crossed him to hear how they feel about that.
People tethered to one particular other person, whether they want to be or not.
How they organize the chaos of the world, for good and for bad.
The trial for the men accused of orchestrating the September 11 terrorist attacks still hasn’t started yet.
Majid believed that if he could testify in court about what happened to him at a CIA black site, he would be given a break. Was he right?
People taking it upon themselves to solve the tiny, overlooked crimes of the world.
The other day, longtime This American Life staffer Seth Lind told Ira Glass something that blew his mind. So he took Seth into the studio.
The things we break and the ones we can't fix.
People waking up to the fact that the world has suddenly changed.
A series of phone calls to a man in Gaza about what he and his family are experiencing.
Your mother and I have something we want to talk with you about.
An investigation of when and why people ask loaded questions that are a proxy for something else.
What it means to have words—and to lose them.
People finding themselves in situations that are worse than they thought and deciding to really go with it.
A political party in a major swing state bets on a total outsider.
A series of conversations with a man in Gaza over the course of one week.
New York City has scrambled to try and provide shelter and services to over 150,000 migrants. We take a look at how that’s going.
When you realize that help is not on the way, what do you do next?
Turkeys, chickens, geese, ducks, fowl of all kinds—real and imagined—and their mysterious hold over us.
Things our dads taught us, whether they intended to or not.
What happens when you realize the people in charge don’t have the answers.
Why does it often take an outsider to see things about you that are obvious?
People who have a good, long time to think about what they’re doing, look hard at what’s ahead of them, and decide to keep moving forward anyway.
Spots we’re avoiding in our private maps of the world.
Friends and ex-friends finally talk about the one thing between them they've been avoiding.
One call to a very unusual hotline, and everything that followed.
People who—whether they want to or not—find themselves face-to-face with the rest of their stories.
Nadia's family is split between Russia and Ukraine, and when Russia invaded Ukraine, it sparked family conflict, too.
People on the verge of a big change, not wanting to let go. And the people who give them the final push.
Ron DeSantis says he'll do for America what he's done for Florida. So what's it like in Florida?
Patients at a fertility clinic experience excruciating, unexpected pain. For months the reason for that pain remains hidden. Then they get a letter from the clinic.
Humans encounter non-human intelligences of various kinds and try to make sense of them.
Ira's own father, Barry Glass, co-hosts this special Father's Day show.
The one animal we can’t seem to live without, even when we really, really want to.
Five years after the #MeToo explosion, what’s happened in the lives of the women who went public with their stories?
Looping thoughts about people you barely know, or don't know at all.
People trying to leave some moment in their life behind, which can be hard.