This American Life – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Ira Glass has news to share about some things happening here at This American Life.

To sign up as a Life Partner, visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners.

Ira Glass talks with longtime producer Nancy Updike about the most personal stories they have put on the radio. This is a sample of the bonus episodes we regularly release to our This American Life Partners.

To gain access to all the bonus episodes AND help us keep making This American Life, join at thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners.

Ira Glass shares some news about This American Life

To sign up as a Life Partner, visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners

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.

Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.

• Prologue: Ira talks about why four conversations reveal how his relationship with his parents changed. (4 minutes)
• Act One: Ira’s mom, Shirley, is invited to lead a discussion about how to get along with your adult children. Her adult children question her expertise. (9 minutes)
• Act Two: Ira asks his parents for advice on how he should build the radio show. His parents don’t hold back. (9 minutes)
• Act Three: Ira talks with his dad, Barry, about Barry’s own brief and doomed career in radio. (21 minutes)
• Act Four: An interview with Ira’s mom that, to this day, makes Ira’s skin crawl. (13 minutes)

Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org

This American Life privacy policy.
Learn more about sponsor message choices.

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.

Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.

• Act One: M Gessen tells Ira Glass about the surprising events that prompted them to begin reporting on their own family for their new podcast, The Idiot. They play the first episode of the series. (14 minutes)
• Act Two: Ira Glass and M Gessen continue to talk through the story of M’s cousin, Allen Gessen. They play more clips from the podcast, and we finally hear about the big, shocking thing that snapped their family apart. (20 minutes)
• Act Three: M Gessen tells Ira Glass about Allen’s trial, and we hear a recording of his conversation with the undercover agent. (21 minutes)

Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org

This American Life privacy policy.
Learn more about sponsor message choices.

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.

Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.

• Prologue: Guest Host Emanuele Berry talks to Nichole Hill about the Black movie characters Nichole was curious about as a child. (7 minutes)
• Act One: A giant of the Harlem Renaissance, Paul Robeson was the most famous American of his day. Until he wasn’t. Nichole Hill tells the messy, complicated story of Paul and his wife, Essie Robeson. (38 minutes)
• Act Two: In 1865, a formerly enslaved man named Jourdan Anderson received a letter from his former enslaver, asking Jourdan to return to the plantation and work. Actor Laurence Fishburne reads Jourdan’s response. 

Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org

This American Life privacy policy.
Learn more about sponsor message choices.

Ira always hated commencement speeches. Then he felt like he had to give this one.

thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners

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

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.

Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.

• Prologue: Shirin's parents suddenly disappear into the blackout. (5 minutes)
• Act One: It’s a war and a blackout. People want to talk about both. (17 minutes)
• Act Two: What happened before America and Israel went to war with Iran. (9 minutes)
• Act Three: Iranians have many opinions about the war, and about each other. (12 minutes)
• Act Four: What happened inside Iran the night President Trump threatened that "a whole civilization could die." And a clue about where the internet blackout is headed. (19 minutes)

Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org

This American Life privacy policy.
Learn more about sponsor message choices.

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

Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.

• Prologue: Geirid and Chrissy are extreme planners. But about a year ago, they were confronted with a situation that even they had no idea how to plan for. (4 minutes)
• Act One: Geirid and Chrissy make an “in case of emergency, break glass” spreadsheet and get some big news. (14 minutes)
• Act Two: Geirid and Chrissy have less than a month to make a life-changing decision. The government gives them two options, and they try to find a third. (21 minutes)
• Act Three: A short story from Rachel Khong: Two people have a very consequential choice to make, given to them by God. (15 minutes)

Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org

This American Life privacy policy.
Learn more about sponsor message choices.