This American Life

This American Life

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1 hr

There's what happened, and there's the story that gets told about what happened. Sometimes the two things don't match up very well.

All Episodes

This week, stories about people trying their best to turn themselves into something else—like a badger.

Even the best laid plans can go catastrophically wrong when humans get involved.

In hour two from Albertville, Alabama, we head into town, where a wave of immigrants has transformed the place.

The man whose views on immigration are the cornerstone of Trump administration policy — Attorney General Jeff Sessions — apparently came to his opinions on the issue from seeing what…

Spider-Man and other people with talents that cause them pain and suffering.

The story of Harold Washington, the greatest politician you've probably never heard of, and the political race war he set off when he became Chicago's first black mayor.

Stories of people who decide to rethink the way they've been doing things ... or try to get others to do that.

This week, blurring the line between animal and human.

More from KCRW

It was Easter Sunday in Paris and this year Catholics did not celebrate the holiest of days at Notre Dame.

from Design and Architecture

Edward Goldman talks about a variety of cultural and political programs at Los Angeles Museums challenging our perspectives concerning art, sex and politics.

from Art Talk

Film Independent Presents and KCRW bring you an advance screening of Trial By Fire from Roadside Attractions.

from Arts & Culture Stories

The Latest

In the spirit of Passover, DnA explores an exodus story with a profound design impact.

How the Bauhaus inspired a new architecture for the 'reborn Jew'

In the spirit of Passover, DnA explores an exodus story with a profound design impact.

from Design and Architecture

Just two days after the shocking fire at the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, the French government announced an international competition to redesign the spire.

Rebuilding Notre Dame; Bauhaus in Israel; Klaus Frahm

Just two days after the shocking fire at the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, the French government announced an international competition to redesign the spire.

from Design and Architecture

Last week DnA brought you to Coachella, where the stages are decked out in the latest technologies.

Klaus Frahm’s photographs pull back curtain on opera stages

Last week DnA brought you to Coachella, where the stages are decked out in the latest technologies.

from Design and Architecture

Whether you subscribe to skinny bundles that include live TV, or more traditional streaming video on demand services, you may have noticed your monthly subscription prices going up…

TV streaming prices creeping up? It's not your imagination.

Whether you subscribe to skinny bundles that include live TV, or more traditional streaming video on demand services, you may have noticed your monthly subscription prices going up…

from Screengrab

What is it about the night, about what happens in the darkness, when most people are asleep?

Overnights

What is it about the night, about what happens in the darkness, when most people are asleep?

from Nocturne

This week, you can: hear authors talk about early 20th century LA architects and/or (separately) the structural dispossession of building and gentrification in the 21st century; go to…

5 design things to do this week: April 22 - 28, 2019

This week, you can: hear authors talk about early 20th century LA architects and/or (separately) the structural dispossession of building and gentrification in the 21st century; go to…

from Design and Architecture

Social psychologists and economists are working from all sides to figure out how to change doctors' prescribing behaviors, but it is not always about what’s best for patients.

Changing prescribers' behaviors to stop prescribing drugs that don’t work.

Social psychologists and economists are working from all sides to figure out how to change doctors' prescribing behaviors, but it is not always about what’s best for patients.

from Second Opinion

For years, Ryan O’Connell was in the closet: not because he’s gay, which he is, but because he was ashamed of having cerebral palsy.  His cover? He’d been hit by a car--which was true.

Ryan O’Connell's new Netflix comedy series is ‘Special’

For years, Ryan O’Connell was in the closet: not because he’s gay, which he is, but because he was ashamed of having cerebral palsy.  His cover? He’d been hit by a car--which was true.

from The Business