Urban Nature

#146 - 10 December 1999

Stories of nature creeping into man-made environments. Of nature sneaking in places where its very presence is a rebuke to the notion that we as a species have things under control.

Poultry Slam 1999

#145 - 26 November 1999

For Thanksgiving, the time of year when poultry consumption is highest, it's our annual program about turkeys, chickens, fowl of all types, and their mysterious hold over our imaginations. This show includes favorite stories from previous Poultry Shows, and some new stories.

Where Words Fail

#144 - 5 November 1999

One reason we tell stories is to explain things to ourselves that cannot, in the end, always be explained. When someone we're close to dies, we struggle for a way to get our minds around the fact of their absence. And often—the stories we invent aren't quite up to the job. In this week's show, people struggle to invent words adequate to cope with death.

Sentencing

#143 - 22 October 1999

We've all heard occasional news stories about how some of the drug laws enacted in the last 15 years may have gone too far. First time offenders get locked up for decades. Judges—even Republican appointees—say that mandatory minimum sentences prevent them from making fair rulings. But have sentences really gone too far?

Barbara

#142 - 15 October 1999

We hear the story of one African-American single mother. Barbara Clinkscales recorded her family's life over the course of seven months for This American Life. Her life defies—or makes irrelevant—most of our typical notions of inner-city, black single mothers.

Invisible Worlds

#141 - 1 October 1999

Stories of people who are trying to make invisible worlds visible, and what happens when you make them visible.

Family Business

#140 - 24 September 1999

Stories of family businesses, and what happens when the tension of family dynamics collides with the pressure of capitalist market forces.

Ghosts of Elections Past

#139 - 3 September 1999

Stories of political idealists, stories designed to provide some small sense of hope about American politics. Most of these were first broadcast during the 1996 Presidential race.

The Real Thing

#138 - 27 August 1999

Stories of people drawn to some idea, some picture, some "thing" that they just want to be. How some people imitate this "thing" innocently, some less innocently, and how easy it is to slip from one to the other.

The Book That Changed Your Life

#137 - 20 August 1999

Stories of people who believe a book changed their life. It's a romantic notion, and one reason we believe it is because we want to believe our lives can be changed by something so simple as an idea — or a set of ideas contained in a book.