This American Life

This American Life is the legendary public radio program and podcast hosted by Ira Glass that has been setting the standard for narrative audio storytelling since 1995. Each week, the show presents true stories and personal essays organized around a central theme, with a mix of humor, heartbreak, and insight that has earned it one of the largest podcast audiences in the world and countless awards including the Peabody Award and multiple Edward R. Murrow Awards. What makes This American Life endure is its extraordinary range — in a single episode you might hear a hilarious account of a small-town feud, a deeply moving story of immigration and identity, and a sharp piece of investigative journalism, all connected by a theme that ties them together in surprising ways. Ira Glass's warm, conversational hosting style and the show's rigorous editorial standards have inspired an entire generation of podcast creators. The show has tackled everything from the failures of the American healthcare system to the inner lives of middle schoolers, always finding the universal in the specific and the extraordinary in the everyday.