This American Life

Getting from Point A to Point B—with expert assistance.

An exploration of the very upper limits of what you do for someone you love.

There’s a program that brings together kids from two schools. One school is public and in the country’s poorest congressional district. The other is private and costs $43,000/year. They are three miles apart. The hope is that kids connect, but some of the public school kids just can’t get over the divide. We hear what happens when you get to see the other side and it looks a lot better. 

Our most ambitious live show ever! We pulled together a massive team of theater pros at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Opera House—nearly 50 singers, actors, dancers and musicians. The result? Journalism turned into a Broadway musical, into opera. Mike Birbiglia, Sasheer Zamata, Stephin Merritt, Josh Hamilton, Lindsay Mendez, Lin-Manuel Miranda and others.

When a fundamental part of yourself changes dramatically, are you still who you thought you were?

Ten people were killed at a grocery store in Buffalo, NY. Their stories, as you’ve never heard them.

Stories of people racing against time to solve a problem. Will they make it? 

An investigation into a very basic question about people: Are most of us bad or good?

The Supreme Court case that overturned Roe v. Wade began with a lawsuit filed by a Mississippi abortion clinic. On the day Roe was overturned, we were there. Stories from the center of this moment of history, the day it happened.

Getting from A to B via Z.