Godless America

#290 - 3 June 2005

At a time when House Majority Leader Tom Delay calls for enacting a "Biblical world view" in government, when Christians are asserting their ideals in the selection of judges, in public school science classes and elsewhere, This American Life spends an hour trying to remember why anyone liked the separation of church and state in the first place.

Go Ask Your Father

#289 - 13 May 2005

In this show, sons and daughters get to find out the one thing they've always wanted to know about their father. The answers aren't always what they hope for.

Not What I Meant

#288 - 6 May 2005

Stories about how easy it is for communication to go awry, and what the consequences can be after it does.

Backed Into A Corner

#287 - 15 April 2005

Stories about people who end up making choices they'd rather not make, when their options begin to run out. Sometimes this works out great; sometimes not so great.

Mind Games

#286 - 8 April 2005

Stories of people who try simple mind games on others, and then find themselves way in over their heads.

Know Your Enemy

#285 - 25 March 2005

Stories about trying to understand who's on your side. The defense minister of Israel visits would-be suicide bombers in prison, only to find out that in at least one case, he feels sorry for the terrorist. A prosecutor tries to censor a punk rock star. He takes him to court, but never bothers to listen to his lyrics. During the trial, he begins to think twice about his mission. Plus other stories.

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

#284 - 11 March 2005

Stories about people teetering on the edge of this question: Should they stay or go? A software writer loses his job, but refuses to go away. He continues to show up at work, sneaking in the door each day and putting in long hours on a project the company canceled. A student from Pakistan finishes four years of college in Philadelphia and has to decide whether to move back home. And other stories.

Remember Me

#283 - 25 February 2005

Stories about people who are remembered very differently than they'd wished. The ghost of a kindly, distinguished philanthropist supposedly plays pranks on guests at a Ramada hotel in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. A dying mother makes a tape for her developmentally disabled daughter, hoping she'll watch it someday, knowing she might not.

DIY

#282 - 11 February 2005

After four lawyers fail to get an innocent man out of prison, his friend takes on the case himself. He becomes a do-it-yourself investigator. He learns to read court records, he tracks down hard-to-find witnesses, he gets the real murderer to come forward with his story. In the end, he's able to accomplish all sorts of things the police and the professionals can't.

My Big Break

#281 - 21 January 2005

Sometimes, getting your big break isn't all it's cracked up to be. A comedy duo lands the gig that can make them famous—the Ed Sullivan Show at the height of Sullivan's popularity—and they bomb. A third-grader gets his big chance to please his mother and push his drunken father out of the picture. And other stories.