President Trump has a vision for the American workforce. Forget expensive college educations. His eye is on the skilled trades. The U.S. Department of Labor has adopted the slogan “Make America Skilled Again.” But who gets to be part of this renaissance? Since the 1980s, women have made small but me...
In the new year, stories of people trying a radical approach to solving their problems. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription. Prologue: Ira meets two sisters who got into a fight, and then learned a lesson in turning the other cheek. (8 minutes) Act One: A ...
Forty years ago, the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff. Seven astronauts were killed, including teacher-in-space Christa McAuliffe. It was a devastating blow to the U.S. space program and a national tragedy for the country. In the days after the explosion, the search for ans...
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. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription. Prologue: Under the dictatorship of Ba...
L.A. County Public Defender Noah Cox noticed the disturbing trend. Many of his clients seemed to struggle answering even the most basic questions about the crimes they’d been charged with, questions like, “Where were you that day?” It seemed, Cox said, “like they were having troubles related to some...
What’s the harm of “better safe than sorry” in cases where abuse is ambiguous? One mother’s story is our answer to that question. Our newest podcast, “The Preventionist” is out now. Search for it wherever you get your podcasts. To get full access to this and other Serial Productions and New York Tim...
Stories about the intersection of Christmas and retail, originally broadcast in 1996 when our show was only a year old. Including David Sedaris's "Santaland Diaries" about the seasons he spent working as an elf at Macy's.
The one animal we can’t seem to live without, even when we really, really want to. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription Prologue: At the announcement of New York City’s inaugural rat czar, we meet Darneice Foster, who despises the rats outside her apartment...
The tiny thing that unravels your world. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription. Prologue: Ira talks to Chris Benderev, whose high school years were completely upended by an impromptu thing his teacher said. (8 minutes) Act One: For Producer Lilly Sullivan, t...
People discovering information about their own lives that they did not know, and suddenly everything looks very different. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription. Prologue: When Pete turned 18, his dad took him on a drive to reveal a family secret he was fina...
In this special mini-episode -- an extra episode this week! -- we hear from someone in Venezuela with a very specific take on last week's U.S. attack.
In the days since deposing Nicolás Maduro, President Trump has given several justifications for his dramatic actions in Venezuela. But perhaps most central to his ambitions is opening Venezuela’s oil fields to American companies. Anatoly Kurmanaev, who covers Venezuela, explains the history behind M...
Since President Trump’s second inauguration, more liberals, people of color and LGBTQ folks say they are buying guns and getting training. This is the latest in a trend that researchers, gun clubs and trainers say they’ve been watching for years. No longer do firearm buyers fit the old stereo-type o...
President William Ruto has appointed Charles W. Mahinda as the new Non-Executive Chairperson of the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK), revoking the...
