Pimp Anthropology

#127 - 16 April 1999

This entire show is devoted to just one story. A former pimp tells how he and three childhood friends became pimps in the 1970s in Oakland, California. He explains all the elaborate "rules of the game" among pimps and prostitutes of that era. He didn't have the stomach for the violence of pimping, and failed as a pimp because of that. Tamar Brott reports.

Do-Gooders

#126 - 9 April 1999

Stories of people trying to do good: Why they often fail and why they occasionally succeed.

Apocalypse

#125 - 2 April 1999

Stories of the end of the world. More people believe it's more imminent than you probably realize.

Welcome to America

#124 - 19 March 1999

Stories of people moving to this country: what they see and hear about America that those of us who were born here don't necessarily see.

High Cost of Living

#123 - 26 February 1999

Stories of people who choose not to live every moment to the fullest or smell the roses, and instead choose to withdraw from life, to make themselves numb.

Valentine's Day '99

#122 - 12 February 1999

For Valentine's Day, stories of impossible love and heartbreak.

Twentieth Century Man

#121 - 29 January 1999

One thing that makes our country different from most others is this idea that you can re-create yourself as someone you'd prefer to be...sell everything off, head out west, start a new life. But what happens if you're too good at it? At throwing everything out and starting over?

Be Careful Who You Pretend to Be

#120 - 22 January 1999

Three stories of people pretending to be something they're not, and what happens to them.

Lockup

#119 - 8 January 1999

With the number of prisoners in the United States rising rapidly, we present stories of their lives and the lives of their families and children.

What You Lookin' At?

#118 - 18 December 1998

Stories about seeing and being seen. Taped before a live audience in Town Hall in New York City in December 1998, this was a co-production with WNYC New York, featuring live music by the pop band They Might Be Giants and the This American Life Orchestra.