351: Return to Childhood

Update: 2018-10-28

Description

Stories of people who try to revisit their childhoods—what they find and what they do not find.

Comments (2)

Marius

superlative episode. and reminded me of things long past and memories tangentially clinging to the periphery of memory. well done

Nov 3rd

Ryan M

Phone losers

Oct 30th

In Channel

The way people talk about being fat is shifting. With one-third of Americans classified as overweight, and another third as obese, and almost none of us losing weight and keeping it off, maybe it’s time to rethink the way we see being fat. A show inspired by Lindy West’s book Shrill.

589: Tell Me I’m Fat

2019-04-1401:09:23

Stories of very small injustices and also one very big one.

672: No Fair!

2019-04-0701:04:2784

People connecting the dots that maybe should not be connected.

671: Anything Can Be Anything

2019-03-3101:01:23101

To be, or not to be a pirate? This week, that is the question. Hold fast, mateys! We have stories about both historical and modern-day swashbucklers who loot, pillage, and question their choices.

616: I Am Not a Pirate

2019-03-2401:08:13121

Stories from the upside-down world where conspiracy theorists dwell.

670: Beware the Jabberwock

2019-03-1701:07:52188

The Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee may have to fight to protect Mueller's investigation and make his report public. Now that they’re in the majority, they have new tools they can use. Our producer Zoe Chace spent weeks behind the scenes with them as they tried out their new powers for the first time. This and other stories of people scrambling to get their footing on some challenging terrain.

669: Scrambling to Get Off the Ice

2019-03-0301:01:0497

People tossing words out into the world impulsively. And how they ignite and burn. Over decades.

668: The Long Fuse

2019-02-1701:04:24131

Intimate and personal dispatches from two very different battlefields: A small town in the Syrian war. And the U.S. opioid epidemic. Each came from a DIY radio outfit. (Okay, one’s a podcast.)

667: Wartime Radio

2019-02-0301:05:23127

Satan! In his many surprising manifestations, all around us.

666: The Theme That Shall Not Be Named

2019-01-2001:03:19173

We revisit those moments of calm before the storm, when things could have gone very differently, but instead, they went to hell.

665: Before Things Went to Hell

2019-01-1300:54:49128

Stories from border walls around the world, where one place ends and another begins. And the strange ecosystems that arise.

641: The Walls

2019-01-0601:13:54141

Libraries aren't just for books. They're often spaces that transform into what you need them to be: a classroom, a cyber café, a place to find answers, a quiet spot to be alone. It's actually kind of magical. This week, we have stories of people who roam the stacks and find unexpected things that just happen to be exactly what they required.

664: The Room of Requirement

2018-12-3000:58:52184

Stories about the intersection of Christmas and retail, originally broadcast in 1996 when our show was only one year old. Including David Sedaris's story "Santaland Diaries," which first aired on NPR's Morning Edition in a much shorter version.

47: Christmas and Commerce

2018-12-2301:00:2871

The story of how the American Psychiatric Association decided in 1973 that homosexuality was no longer a mental illness.

204: 81 Words

2018-12-1600:59:2485

Documents you don't normally think of, showing you things you didn't expect.

663: How I Read It

2018-12-0901:01:11100

Growing up in Mankato, Minnesota, John Biewen says, nobody ever talked about the most important historical event ever to happen there: in 1862, it was the site of the largest mass execution in U.S. history. Thirty-eight Dakota Indians were hanged after a war with white settlers. John went back to Minnesota to figure out what really happened 150 years ago, and why Minnesotans didn’t talk about it much after.

479: Little War on the Prairie

2018-12-0201:03:12101

Dr. Benjamin Gilmer gets a job at a rural clinic. He finds out he’s replaced someone — also named Dr. Gilmer — who went to prison after killing his own father. But the more Benjamin’s patients talk about the other Dr. Gilmer, the more confused he becomes. Everyone loved the old Dr. Gilmer. So Benjamin starts digging around, trying to understand how a good man can seemingly turn bad.

492: Dr. Gilmer and Mr. Hyde

2018-11-2501:04:11123

Stories of people who believe there is always a way. And also those who don’t.

662: Where There Is a Will

2018-11-1801:01:5292

Stories of women in unsettling situations. When they try to explain what’s wrong, they’re told that they don’t understand—that there’s nothing unsettling about it.

661: But That's What Happened

2018-11-1101:01:21131

Stories of people who tell a lie and then believe the lie more than anyone else does. In other words: Stories about people pulling hoaxes...on themselves.

660: Hoaxing Yourself

2018-11-0400:56:48103

Download from Google Play

Download from App Store

FAQs

United States

00:00

1.0x

#box-pro-ellipsis-155585029222555{-webkit-line-clamp:2;-webkit-box-orient: vertical;}351: Return to Childhood

Marius

Ryan M

351: Return to Childhood

this american life

351: Return to Childhood