This American Life

Switched at Birth

On a summer day in 1951, two baby girls were born in a hospital in small-town Wisconsin. The infants were accidentally switched, and went home with the wrong families. One of the mothers realized the mistake but chose to keep quiet. Until the day, more than 40 years later, when she decided to tell both daughters what happened. How the truth changed two families' lives — and how it didn't.

Fall Guy

Sometimes when things go wrong, parsing out who all is to blame and taking them to task is just too complicated and haaaard!  What's easy is pinning it all on one person and watching them go down in flames. This week Mike Birbiglia tells what it's like to be the fall guy for an entire high school. Also, Philip Gourevitch on the most infamous fall girl in recent history, and Shalom Auslander on fall dogs and fall grandmas.

Origin Story

This week we bring you little-known and surprising stories of how all sorts of institutions — from a controversial legal precedent to a Hollywood teen dance flick — began. In one story, a man tries to set the record straight about his life's achievements, which he says include inventing thumb wrestling and popularizing the eating of shrimp in the New York area. And the story of a seven-year-old old boy trying to figure out where he comes from.

The Watchmen

One of the biggest questions about this financial crisis gripping our economy: How did it happen? Wasn't someone supposed to watching things? Making sure people were acting prudently? Stopping, say, the largest insurance company in the world from making a $185 billion bet that it couldn't make good on? This week, we hear the stories of the people who were supposed to be overseeing things.

Turncoat

A well-known activist -— an anarchic, revolutionary activist —- is accused of spying on other activists for the FBI. The strangest thing about the rumor is that it's true. How Brandon Darby transformed from cop-hater to federal witness. Plus, a new story by Etgar Keret, about a boy who betrays his people with a pair of shoes.

No Map

A show about people who find themselves well off the beaten path, at least in any way that they could have anticipated — in terms of money, in terms of family...and in one case, in terms of taming a wild animal on the side of a road.

Return to the Scene of the Crime

Ira Glass hosts an episode of This American Life, in front of a live audience...and records it for those who couldn’t attend to hear. Guests include Performers include Dan Savage, Starlee Kine, Mike Birbiglia and Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

This I Used to Believe

Stories of people forced to let go of their firmly held beliefs. When the daughter of a pro-choice activist concludes that abortion is murder, her mother goes to extraordinary lengths to persuade her daughter to switch sides. Plus, writer Andrew Solomon explains how being wrapped in the intestines of a ram can forever change a man's outlook on life.

Scenes from a Recession

The economy works in mysterious ways. We highlight the unusual circumstances our economic drought has left us in, and the newly-hatched plans being made to survive it. And a story which tracks the FDIC during its most covert operation: taking over an unsuspecting bank.

Wrong Side of History

Bernie Epton went down in history as the Other Guy: the white opponent who almost defeated the first black mayor of Chicago. But what’s the real story of someone who ended up on the wrong side of history?

Bad Bank

Alex Blumberg and NPR’s Adam Davidson team up once again to talk economy about why America's working men and women have given billions of taxpayer dollars to some of the largest and richest banks in the world -- and why it's probably not enough. Plus, a Kansas City man goes on a toxic asset road trip, and two New Jersey guys with what might be a solution to the whole problem...

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Somewhere Out There

Of all the six and a half billion people in the world, what are the odds that any two people are a real match? Stories from people who know they've beat the odds, and the lengths they've gone to do it, including an American professor who sings Chinese opera for anyone who'll listen, to get one step closer to his mate, and two kids who travel halfway around the country to find each other and become best friends.

Radio Round-up of This American Life, Chapter II

A round-up of favorite stories from the series, selected especially for the pledge drive.

Radio Round-up of This American Life

A round-up of favorite stories from This American Life that reminds us what makes radio special.

The Inauguration Show

People from all over the country weigh in with their feelings about the new president. Plus, NPR international economics correspondent Adam Davidson on how Obama's new stimulus plan might actually be the first ever test of a very very old theory. And other stories on the eve of a historic inauguration.

Numbers

Numbers lie. Numbers cover over complicated feelings and ambiguous situations. In this week's show, stories of people trying to use numbers to describe things that should not be quantified.