Podcasts by APM Reports Documentaries
Further podcasts by APM Reports
Podcast on the topic Dokumentation
All episodes
Under Pressure: The College Mental Health Crisis from 2021-08-19T05:05
Even before the pandemic, campus counselling services were reporting a marked uptick in the number of students with anxiety, clinical depression and other serious psychiatric problems. What is a...
Listen
Who Wants to Be a Teacher? from 2021-08-11T05:05
Many schools around the country are struggling to find enough teachers. Large numbers of teachers quit after a short time on the job, so schools are constantly struggling to replace them. The pr...
Listen
Fading Beacon: Why America is Losing International Students from 2021-08-03T05:10
Colleges and universities in the United States attract more than a million international students a year. Higher education is one of America’s top service exports, generating $42 billion in reve...
Listen
The Jail Tapes in the Dumpster from 2021-04-17T14:49
Sixteen-year-old Myon Burrell was sent to prison for life after a stray bullet killed an 11-year-old girl in Minneapolis in 2002. Amy Klobuchar, who was Minneapolis’ top prosecutor, brought firs...
Listen
The Bad Place from 2020-11-22T14:49:19
More than 40 states have sent their most vulnerable kids to facilities run by a for-profit company named Sequel. Many of those kids were abused there. Listen
Black at Mizzou: Confronting race on campus from 2020-08-14T05:05
Lauren Brown says college was "culture shock." Most of the students at her high school were Black, but most of the students at the University of Missouri were white. And she got to the...
Listen
What the Words Say from 2020-08-06T20:30:54
Everyone agrees that the goal of reading instruction is for children to understand what they read. The question is: how does a little kid get there? Emily Hanford explores what reading scientist...
Listen
Covid on Campus from 2020-07-29T20:29:21
The coronavirus pandemic represents the greatest challenge to American higher education in decades. Some small regional colleges that were already struggling won’t survive. Other schools, large ...
Listen
Soldiers for Peace from 2019-11-07T22:21:44
During the Vietnam War, roughly one in five GIs actively opposed the conflict. Many servicemen and women came to believe they were not liberating the country from communism but acting as agents ...
Listen
Uprooted: The 1950s plan to erase Indian Country from 2019-11-01T05:00:57
In the 1950s, the United States came up with a plan to solve what it called the "Indian Problem." It would assimilate Native Americans by moving them to cities and eliminating reservat...
Listen
Fading Minds: Why There's Still No Cure for Alzheimer's from 2019-10-15T05:00
In the 1970s, the founder of the National Institute on Aging convinced a nation that senility was really Alzheimer's and could be cured. Research money flowed to one theory, leaving alternat...
Listen
At a Loss for Words: What's wrong with how schools teach reading from 2019-08-22T19:46:03
For decades, schools have taught children the strategies of struggling readers, using a theory about reading that cognitive scientists have repeatedly debunked. And many teachers and parents don...
Listen
Students on the Move: Keeping uprooted kids in school from 2019-08-14T05:00
A growing body of research finds that repeatedly uprooted children are more likely to struggle in school and more likely to drop out. But there are ways to help them succeed.
Listen
Under a Watchful Eye: How colleges are tracking students to boost graduation from 2019-08-06T05:00
At Georgia State in Atlanta, more students are graduating, and the school credits its use of predictive analytics. But critics worry that the algorithms may be invading students' privacy and...
Listen
When Tasers Fail from 2019-05-09T15:35:55
Tasers have become an essential tool for police, but how effective are they? An APM Reports investigation finds that officers in some big cities rated Tasers as unreliable up to 40 percent of th...
Listen
Hard Words: Why Aren't Our Kids Being Taught to Read? from 2018-09-10T20:57:40
Scientific research has shown how children learn to read and how they should be taught. But many educators don't know the science and, in some cases, actively resist it. As a result, million...
Listen
Old Idea, New Economy: Rediscovering Apprenticeships from 2018-09-03T05:00
You might think apprenticeships are a relic from an earlier era, but a growing number of Americans are using them as a way into the middle class.
Listen
Still Rising: First-Generation College Students a Decade Later from 2018-08-27T05:00
They bet that college would help them move up. Did it pay off?
Listen
Changing Class: Are Colleges Helping Americans Move Up? from 2018-08-20T05:00
Colleges have long offered a pathway to success for just about anyone. But new research shows that with the country growing ever more economically divided, colleges are not doing enough to help ...
Listen
Order 9066, Part 3: Leaving Camp from 2018-07-11T08:00
At the end of 1944, the U.S. government lifted the order barring people of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast. Many people freed from camp faced racism and poverty as they tried to rebuild th...
Listen
Order 9066, Part 2: Fighting for Freedom from 2018-07-11T07:00
At the beginning of World War Two, Japanese Americans not already in the military were declared ineligible for service. The government said it doubted their loyalty. But as the war dragged on, t...
Listen
Order 9066, Part 1: The Roundup from 2018-07-11T06:00
Japanese warplanes bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Hours later, the FBI began rounding up people of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast.
Listen
Ethics Be Damned, Part 3 from 2018-03-19T08:00
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is a major investor in Neurocore, a company based in Michigan that claims to help kids with various attention deficit disorders. Since taking office, she's ke...
Listen
Ethics Be Damned, Part 2 from 2018-03-19T07:00
It all started with a fur coat and an expensive rug. It ended with the resignation of President Eisenhower's chief of staff. That incident led to the government ethics system of today. In th...
Listen
Ethics Be Damned, Part 1 from 2018-03-19T06:00
More than half of Trump's 20-person Cabinet has engaged in questionable or unethical conduct since taking office. The nation's top ethics official says "these are perilous times.&qu...
Listen
Shadow Class: College Dreamers in Trump's America from 2017-09-11T05:00
President Trump is ending DACA, which allowed some 800,000 undocumented young people to stay and work in the United States. For some, that may mean the end of a dream of going to college. This p...
Listen
Hard to Read: How American schools fail kids with dyslexia from 2017-09-11T05:00
Public schools are denying children with dyslexia proper treatment and often failing to identify them in the first place.
Listen
Shackled Legacy: Universities and the Slave Trade from 2017-09-04T05:00
Profits from slavery and related industries helped build some of the most prestigious schools in New England. This documentary focuses on three universities -- Harvard, Georgetown and the Univer...
Listen
Keeping Teachers from 2017-08-28T05:00
There may be nothing more important in the educational life of a child than having effective teachers. But the United States is struggling to attract and keep teachers.
Listen
Historically Black, Part 3 from 2017-02-17T06:00
The Question of Black Identity, Black Love Stories
Listen
Historically Black, Part 2 from 2017-02-10T06:00
Tracking Down a Slave's Bill of Sale, The Path to Founding an HBCU, The Fiddler who Charmed Missouri
Listen
Historically Black, Part 1 from 2017-02-03T06:00
NASA's Human Computers, Harlem Through James Van Der Zee's Lens, The Spirit of the Million Man March
Listen
Rewriting the Sentence: College Behind Bars from 2016-09-08T05:00
After an abrupt reversal 20 years ago, some prisons and colleges try to maintain college education for prisoners.
Listen
What It Takes: Chasing Graduation at High-Poverty High Schools from 2016-09-01T05:00
The nation's high school graduation rate is at an all-time high, but high-poverty schools face a stubborn challenge. Schools in Miami and Pasadena are trying to do things differently.
Listen
Spare the Rod: Reforming School Discipline from 2016-08-25T17:00
A get-tough attitude prevailed among educators in the 1980s and 1990s, but research shows that zero-tolerance policies don't make schools safer and lead to disproportionate discipline for st...
Listen
Stuck at Square One: The Remedial Education Trap from 2016-08-18T05:00
A system meant to give college students a better shot at succeeding is actually getting in the way of many, costing them time and money and taking a particular toll on students of color.
Listen
Bought and Sold: The New Fight Against Teen Sex Trafficking from 2016-05-12T05:00
Advocates for kids are pushing for a new approach to combating underage prostitution: treating young people caught up in sex trafficking as victims, not delinquents.
Listen
Thirsty Planet from 2016-05-12T05:00
Scientists say most people on Earth will first experience climate change in terms of water — either too much or too little.
Listen
Beyond the Blackboard: Building Character in Public Schools from 2015-09-10T05:00
This documentary explores the "Expeditionary Learning" approach, traces the history of ideas that led to its inception, and investigates what American schools could learn from its succ...
Listen
From Boots to Books: Student Veterans and the New GI Bill from 2015-09-03T05:00
The longest war in American history is drawing to a close. Now, the men and women who served are coming home, and many hope to use higher education to build new, better lives.
Listen
Teaching Teachers from 2015-08-27T05:00
Research shows good teaching makes a big difference in how much kids learn. But the United States lacks an effective system for training new teachers or helping them get better once they're ...
Listen
The Living Legacy: Black Colleges in the 21st Century from 2015-08-20T05:00
Before the civil rights movement, African Americans were largely barred from white-dominated institutions of higher education. And so black Americans, and their white supporters, founded their o...
Listen
The First Family of Radio: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt's Historic Broadcasts from 2014-11-13T06:00
When Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president in 1932, he and first lady Eleanor Roosevelt both used the new medium of radio to reach into American homes like never before.
Listen
Ready to Work: Reviving Vocational Ed from 2014-09-11T05:00
Vocational education was once a staple of American schooling, preparing some kids for blue-collar futures while others were put on a path to college. Many experts say it's time to bring back...
Listen
The New Face of College from 2014-09-04T05:00
Just 20 percent of college-goers fit the stereotype of being young, single, full-time students who finish a degree in four years. College students today are more likely to be older, part-time, w...
Listen
Greater Expectations: The Challenge of the Common Core from 2014-08-28T05:00
The United States is in the midst of a huge education reform. The Common Core State Standards are a new set of expectations for what students should learn each year in school.
Listen
The Science of Smart from 2014-08-21T05:00
Researchers have long been searching for better ways to learn. In recent decades, experts working in cognitive science, psychology, and neuroscience have opened new windows into how the brain wo...
Listen
Second-Chance Diploma: Examining the GED from 2013-09-01T05:00
Most test-takers hope the GED will lead to a better job or more education. But critics say the GED encourages some students to drop out of school. And research shows the credential is of little ...
Listen
One Child at a Time: Custom Learning in the Digital Age from 2013-08-01T05:00
Learning with a personal tutor is one of the oldest and best ways to learn. Hiring a tutor for every student was never a realistic option. Now, new computer programs can customize education for ...
Listen
Keyboard College: How Technology is Revolutionizing Higher Education from 2012-09-13T05:00
Digital technologies and the Internet are changing how many Americans go to college. From online learning to simulation programs to smart-machine mentors, the 21st-century student will be taught...
Listen
The Rise of Phoenix: For-Profit Universities Shake Up the Academy from 2012-09-06T05:00
For-profit colleges have deep roots in American history, but until recently they were a tiny part of the higher education landscape. Now they are big players.
Listen
Grit, Luck and Money: Preparing Kids for College and Getting Them Through from 2012-08-30T05:00
More people are going to college than ever before, but a lot of them aren't finishing. Low-income students, in particular, struggle to get to graduation.
Listen
Don't Lecture Me: Rethinking the Way College Students Learn from 2011-09-03T05:00
College students spend a lot of time listening to lectures. But research shows there are better ways to learn. And experts say students need to learn better because the 21st century economy dema...
Listen
Who Needs an English Major? from 2011-09-01T05:00
The most popular college major in America these days is business. Some students think it doesn't pay to study philosophy or history. But advocates of liberal arts programs say their graduate...
Listen
Some College, No Degree: Getting Adults Back to School from 2011-08-12T05:00
In an economy that increasingly demands workers with knowledge and skills, many college dropouts are being left behind.
Listen
Power and Smoke: A Nation Built on Coal from 2011-02-12T06:00
The production of electricity in America pumps out more greenhouse gases than all of our cars, trucks, planes, and ships combined, and half of our electricity comes from burning coal.
Listen
Back of the Bus: Mass Transit, Race and Inequality from 2011-01-12T06:00
Equal access to transportation was once a central issue of the Civil Rights Movement. But today, disparities still persist.
Listen
State of Siege: Mississippi Whites and the Civil Rights Movement from 2011-01-08T06:00
Mississippi led the South in an extraordinary battle to maintain racial segregation. Whites set up powerful citizens groups and state agencies to fight the civil rights movement. Their tactics w...
Listen
Say It Plain: A Century of Great African-American Speeches from 2011-01-01T06:00
Spanning the 20th century, this collection is a vivid account of how African Americans sounded the charge against racial injustice, exhorting the country to live up to its democratic principles....
Listen
Say It Loud: A Century of Great African-American Speeches from 2011-01-01T06:00
Titled after the classic 1969 James Brown anthem, "Say it Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud," this anthology illuminates the ideas and debates pulsing through the black freedom str...
Listen
Testing Teachers from 2010-08-12T05:00
Teachers matter. A lot. Studies show that students with the best teachers learn three times as much as students with the worst teachers. Researchers say the achievement gap between poor children...
Listen
War on Poverty from 2010-06-12T05:00
When Lyndon B. Johnson became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, he put the power of his presidency behind a remarkable series of reform initiatives. The legislation was geare...
Listen
The Great Textbook War from 2010-06-01T05:00
What should children learn in school? It's a question that's stirred debate for decades, and in 1974 it led to violent protests in West Virginia. Schools were hit by dynamite, buses were...
Listen
Workplace U from 2009-11-12T06:00
A new movement turns conventional wisdom on its head, and makes a job the ticket to an education. The idea is to turn workplaces into classrooms and marginal students into productive workers.
Listen
Rising By Degrees from 2009-11-01T05:00
The United States is facing a dramatic demographic challenge: Young Latinos are the fastest-growing segment of the population, and they are the least likely to graduate from college.
Listen
Early Lessons from 2009-10-12T05:00
The Perry Preschool Project is one of the most famous education experiments of the last 50 years. The study asked a question: Can preschool boost the IQ scores of poor African-American children ...
Listen
Behind the Scenes: Hard Times in Middletown Debrief from 2009-06-26T22:13:38
Producer Laurie Stern talks with Stephen Smith about wrapping up their documentary Hard Times in Middletown.
Listen
Behind the Scenes: Bridge to Somewhere Debrief from 2009-06-19T22:13:38
Producer Catherine Winter talks with Stephen Smith about wrapping up the documentary Bridge to Somewhere.
Listen
Behind the Scenes: A Better Life Debrief from 2009-06-12T22:13:38
Producers Kate Ellis and Ellen Guettler talk with Stephen Smith about wrapping up their documentary A Better Life: Creating the […]
Listen
Behind the Scenes: Foreclosure City Debrief from 2009-06-05T22:13:39
Producer Krissy Clark talks with Stephen Smith about life after the her documentary.
Listen
Bridge to Somewhere from 2009-05-12T05:00
President Barack Obama wants to create jobs by building infrastructure. So did another president. Franklin Delano Roosevelt tried to put people to work by building roads, bridges, dams, sewers, ...
Listen
Behind the Scenes: Editing from 2009-05-01T22:13:39
ARW editor Peter Clowney talks with Stephen Smith about the processing of editing radio documentaries.
Listen
A Better Life: Creating the American Dream from 2009-05-01T05:00
The "American dream" has powered the hopes and aspirations of Americans for generations. But what exactly is the American dream? How did we come to define it? And is it changing?
Listen
Behind the Scenes: A Better Life, Part 2 from 2009-04-24T22:13:39
ARW producers Ellen Guettler and Kate Ellis discuss the “American dream.” It began as a plain but revolutionary notion: each […]
Listen
Behind the Scenes: The Great Depression from 2009-04-17T22:13:39
ARW Executive Editor Stephen Smith hosts a panel discussion on the political, financial, and cultural sides of America during the […]
Listen
Hard Times in Middletown from 2009-04-12T05:00
For almost a century, Muncie, Indiana has been known as "Middletown," the quintessential American community. But now, as the rust-belt city grapples with deepening recession, many resi...
Listen
Behind the Scenes: Foreclosure City, Part 2 from 2009-04-10T22:13:39
Producer Krissy Clark is moving on to the editing phase for her documentary on the devastating foreclosure crisis happening in […]
Listen
Behind the Scenes: Education and the Economy, Part 2 from 2009-04-03T22:13:40
Last week, ARW producer Emily Hanford stopped by to talk about a trio of stories she’s been working on about […]
Listen
Foreclosure City from 2009-04-01T05:00
Until recently, Las Vegas was one of the few places where the American Dream still seemed widely possible. Each month, thousands of people flocked there, lured by the promise of good jobs and a ...
Listen
Behind the Scenes: Education and the Economy from 2009-03-27T22:13:40
The effects of the economic downturn are far and wide. While slowdowns used to be a good time to return […]
Listen
Behind the Scenes: Bridge to Somewhere from 2009-03-20T22:13:40
With the country’s economy in a tailspin, many Americans are calling for a new New Deal: an infusion of federal […]
Listen
Behind the Scenes: Stock Crazy from 2009-03-13T22:13:40
To understand the American fascination with the stock market, you have to look at the American Dream and how it’s […]
Listen
Behind the Scenes: A Better Life from 2009-03-06T22:13:40
Millions of Americans are slipping from the middle class, and it’s no longer certain that savvy, hard-working parents can pave […]
Listen
Behind the Scenes: Hard Times in Middletown from 2009-02-27T22:13:40
Muncie, Indiana, often thought of as the “typical American city,” has become a rust-belt city grappling with de-industrialization and deepening […]
Listen
Behind the Scenes: Foreclosure City from 2009-02-20T22:13:40
Producer Krissy Clark has been finding scenes, meeting characters, and gathering tape in Las Vegas for her upcoming documentary on […]
Listen
Campaign '68 from 2008-10-12T05:00
The 1968 presidential election was a watershed in American politics. After dominating the political landscape for more than a generation, the Democratic Party crumbled. Richard M. Nixon was elec...
Listen
After the Projects from 2008-10-01T05:00
Michael Whitehead lived in Chicago's Ida B. Wells housing project for nearly 50 years. In 2008, the Chicago Housing Authority closed down Wells, as part of its "Plan for Transformation,...
Listen
What Killed Sergeant Gray from 2008-10-01T05:00
Sergeant Adam Gray made it home from Iraq only to die in his barracks. Investigating his death, American RadioWorks pieces together a story of soldiers suffering psychological scars - because th...
Listen
Pueblo, USA from 2008-09-12T05:00
The nation's foreign-born population will soon surpass the 14.7 percent share reached in 1910, when the Statue of Liberty beckoned to Europe's "huddled masses yearning to breathe fr...
Listen
Business of the Bomb from 2008-04-12T05:00
In January 2000, a German engineer living in South Africa met with a friend and business partner to hatch a deal. Gerald Wisser, a 61-year-old broker, visited his friend's pipe factory outsi...
Listen
Gangster Confidential from 2008-04-01T05:00
Rene Enriquez was a leader in one of America's most violent gangs, the Mexican Mafia. He's serving 20 years to life in California for murders he committed for the gang.
Listen
King's Last March from 2008-03-12T05:00
Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968. Four decades later, King remains one of the most vivid symbols of hope for racial unity in America. But that's not the way he was vi...
Listen
Design of Desire from 2007-11-12T06:00
New research is lending insight into why we want stuff that we don't need. It also explains why some people are what are called tightwads, while other people are spendthrifts. This site is a...
Listen
Wanted: Parents from 2007-11-01T05:00
Advocates for kids are trying to persuade more families to adopt teenagers. If teenagers in foster care don't find permanent families, they face a grim future. They "age out" of fo...
Listen
An Imperfect Revolution from 2007-09-12T05:00
In the 1970s, for the first time, large numbers of white children and black children began attending school together. It was an experience that shaped them for life.
Listen
Battles of Belief from 2007-09-12T05:00
America seemed united in fighting "The Good War" but not everyone fought in the same way.
Listen
Put to the Test from 2007-09-01T05:00
The effects of high-stakes testing on students, teachers, and schools.
Listen
Routes to Recovery from 2007-08-02T05:00
To mark the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, American RadioWorks teams up with Nick Spitzer of American Routes to find out how culture might save New Orleans.
Listen
Green Rush from 2007-08-01T05:00
From carbon offsets to biofuels, companies and investors are seeking riches in the fight against global warming. What happens when good deeds grapple with the realities of the free market?
Listen
A Burden to Be Well from 2007-05-12T05:00
The effects of mental illness are well documented. But until recently, there has been little said about the siblings of the mentally ill. Now researchers are starting to look at the "well-s...
Listen
Imperial Washington from 2007-01-12T06:00
Explore the trappings of life in Congress, the pressure to raise campaign dollars and Washington's powerful world of lobbying.
Listen
Urban Shakespeare from 2006-12-12T06:00
A few "at risk" teens in Los Angeles are getting their first jobs, as working artists: studying Shakespeare and writing their own poetry and music, all while earning minimum wage.
Listen
Hearing America from 2006-12-12T06:00
A century ago, the first radio broadcasts sent music out into the air. Since then, music has dominated America's airwaves and it's been a cultural battleground.
Listen
Reports from a Warming Planet from 2006-11-12T06:00
The early signs of climate change are showing up across vastly differing landscapes: from melting outposts near the Arctic Circle to disappearing glaciers high in the Andes; from the rising wate...
Listen
Japan's Pop Power from 2006-10-12T05:00
To many people, global youth culture means rock and roll and other Western fashions. But for more and more young people across to world, the capital of pop culture is Tokyo. Over the past decade...
Listen
The Sonic Memorial Project from 2006-09-12T05:00
Peabody-award winning documentary that chronicles the sounds and voices of the World Trade Center and its surrounding neighborhood.
Listen
Rewiring the Brain from 2006-09-12T05:00
A unique study of Romania's orphans reveals the profound effects of social deprivation on brain development.
Listen
Rebuilding Biloxi from 2006-08-12T05:00
Hurricane Katrina devastated the lives of thousands of Mississippi Gulf Coast residents. Rebuilding Biloxi tells the stories of several families in the coastal community of Biloxi, Miss., and th...
Listen
Power Trips: Congressional Staffers Share the Road from 2006-06-12T05:00
Public documents show that from 2000 through mid-2005, Capitol Hill staffers accepted nearly 17,000 free trips worth almost $30 million. Many of these trips clearly violate ethics rules designed...
Listen
Vietnam and the Presidency from 2006-06-12T05:00
Four American presidents tried to end the conflict in Vietnam. The lessons they learned echo sharply today.
Listen
After Welfare from 2006-05-12T05:00
In August 1996, landmark legislation fulfilled the promise to "end welfare as we know it." Congress gave the states money to run their own programs and required them to move many welfa...
Listen
Logging On and Losing Out from 2006-03-12T06:00
Internet poker has taken America by storm. Three-quarters of high school and college kids are gambling on a regular basis. But adolescents are far more vulnerable to getting addicted to gambling...
Listen
Unmasking Stalin from 2006-02-12T06:00
On February 25, 1956, former Kremlin leader Nikita Khrushchev revealed and denounced, for the first time in the history of the Soviet Union, the crimes of his predecessor, Joseph Stalin, dramati...
Listen
Intelligent Designs on Evolution from 2006-01-12T06:00
How a rival concept about the origins of life is defying the cornerstone of biology.
Listen
Power Trips: Pombo in the Gray from 2005-10-13T05:00
Tax law prohibits members of Congress from taking international trips paid for by private foundations, but Republican Richard Pombo may have done just that.
Listen
Finding Home from 2005-10-13T05:00
More than 20,000 foreign children are adopted by Americans every year. Most come from poor and troubled parts of the world, and a life in America offers new hope. But it also means separation fr...
Listen
No Place for a Woman from 2005-09-13T05:00
In the 1970s, women began breaking into male-dominated professions as never before. Women took jobs as police officers, lawyers and steelworkers. Across the country, the first women in male bast...
Listen
Married to the Military from 2005-07-13T05:00
The United States is making huge demands on its military people, the toughest since the Vietnam War. But most soldiers during Vietnam were young, single men. Today, in the all-volunteer military...
Listen
Power Trips: Chilled Travel from 2005-07-13T05:00
How has all the recent news about congressional travel changed the travel habits of those in Congress?
Listen
Power Trips: The Lobbyists' Loophole from 2005-06-13T05:00
Over the past few years, private groups have payed for more than 4,800 trips by members of Congress at a cost of $14 million.
Listen
The Cost of Corruption from 2005-05-13T05:00
Corruption skims billions from the global economy, locking millions of people in poverty. But a worldwide movement is fighting back.
Listen
Global 3.0 from 2005-05-13T05:00
For many, globalization has meant rich countries getting richer at the expense of the poor. Today, it's not that simple.
Listen
A Mind of Their Own from 2005-04-13T05:00
Most children can be volatile at some point in their development, with no particular cause for worry. But at what point do irritability, mood swings, and tantrums constitute a mental illness? Up...
Listen
Locked Down from 2005-03-13T06:00
The supermax prison was designed to incapacitate dangerous criminals by locking them down in stark isolation. But do they live up to their promise?
Listen
No Place To Hide from 2005-01-13T06:00
President Bush has admitted ordering intelligence agencies to electronically spy on American citizens without court oversight since 9/11. Such monitoring of suspected terrorists affects thousand...
Listen
The Surprising Legacy of Y2K from 2005-01-11T06:00
Five years after the hoopla and warnings about Y2K, many still dismiss it as a hoax, scam, or non-event. But in reality, Y2K was not only a real threat narrowly averted, it also led to changes i...
Listen
Justice for Sale? from 2005-01-02T06:00
Thirty-eight states have elections for state courts around the country. These days, those races are getting more expensive, and can even run into the millions of dollars. Much of that money come...
Listen
Carving Up the Vote from 2004-12-13T06:00
One hugely influential issue in the last election got little attention: gerrymandering. Politicians have been tinkering with the boundaries of their electoral districts for decades, but in the l...
Listen
Is Wal-Mart Good for America? from 2004-11-13T06:00
They were the kings of corporate America, but over the past 25 years, American manufacturers have lost that position of power. Today, America's largest private sector employer is Wal-Mart, a...
Listen
The Choice 2004, Part 2 from 2004-11-02T06:00
Two candidates for President, offering two directions for America. They are men of the same generation, Yale graduates from privileged New England families. But they took starkly different paths...
Listen
The Choice 2004, Part 1 from 2004-11-01T06:00
Two candidates for President, offering two directions for America. They are men of the same generation, Yale graduates from privileged New England families. But they took starkly different paths...
Listen
Red Runs the Vistula from 2004-09-13T05:00
Five years after the start of World War II, the people of Warsaw rose up against the German occupation of their city. The uprising was meant to last just 48 hours. Instead, it went on for two mo...
Listen
Witnesses to Terror from 2004-09-13T05:00
During an 18-month investigation, the 9/11 Commission heard extraordinary testimony about the terrorist attacks on America. Witnesses told stories of lucky breaks and deadly errors. The commissi...
Listen
Suffering For Two from 2004-08-13T05:00
More women than ever are taking antidepressant medication, including more pregnant women. For those trying to weigh the danger of fetal exposure to medication against the risk of a mother's ...
Listen
Climate of Uncertainty from 2004-08-13T05:00
Scientists have discovered that the Earth's climate is capable of changing abruptly. Could global warming bring the Earth to another such rapid change?
Listen
Mandela: An Audio History from 2004-07-13T05:00
A decade ago, Nelson Mandela became president in South Africa's first multi-racial democratic election. Mandela's journey, from freedom fighter to president, capped a dramatic half-centu...
Listen
The Hospice Experiment from 2004-06-13T05:00
The '60s were a time of social movements and big changes, but a quieter revolution was underway too -- one led by a few middle-aged women who wanted to change our way of death. They were the...
Listen
Thurgood Marshall Before the Court from 2004-05-13T05:00
In 1967, Thurgood Marshall became the first African American appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. But Marshall had already earned a place in history, as the leader of an extraordinary legal camp...
Listen
The Few Who Stayed from 2004-04-13T05:00
In April 1994, the central African nation of Rwanda exploded into 100 days of violence, killing 800,000 people. Most turned their backs to the bloodshed. Here is the story of those who stayed.
Listen
The Whole Thing Changed from 2004-04-01T06:00
The end of major combat in Iraq did not bring an end to the fighting. American troops trying to rebuild the country found themselves surrounded by unknown dangers and escalating hostility from I...
Listen
My Name Is Iran from 2004-02-13T06:00
In 1927, Iran developed a legal code doing away with gruesome Islamic punishments such as stoning and lashing. That all changed during the Islamic revolution of 1979. NPR Producer Davar Ardalan ...
Listen
The President Calling from 2003-11-13T06:00
Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon left hundreds of hours of secretly taped telephone conversations. What can these tapes tell us about the presidency and the individuals that hold the office?
Listen
Whose Vote Counts? from 2003-11-13T06:00
The newest voting machine technology may do little to lessen voter disenfranchisement or fraud, and it will do nothing for those that have lost the right to vote.
Listen
Iraq: The War After the War from 2003-09-13T05:00
Even after the fall of Baghdad, the U.S. is still fighting.
Listen
Korea: The Unfinished War from 2003-07-13T05:00
Examine the often-overlooked war that helped define global politics and American life for the second half of the 20th century.
Listen
Investigating Sierra Leone from 2003-06-13T05:00
Former Liberian President Charles Taylor faces international war crimes charges arising from one of Africa's most brutal civil wars. American RadioWorks followed investigators as they built ...
Listen
Gunrunners from 2002-10-13T05:00
Small arms pass from war zone to war zone through a global network of arms traffickers. This is a story about just one part of the illegal arms pipeline.
Listen
Days of Infamy from 2002-09-13T05:00
Days of Infamy compares recordings of ordinary Americans reacting to Pearl Harbor and September 11.
Listen
Nature's Revenge from 2002-09-13T05:00
Every year, a chunk of land almost the size of Manhattan turns into open water in Louisiana, threatening the state's economy as well as vital American industries like seafood, oil and gas.
Listen
New York Works from 2002-08-13T05:00
Jobs that are slowly disappearing in New York City and the people that keep them alive.
Listen
Deadly Decisions from 2002-08-13T05:00
How do jurors decide who should live and who should die?
Listen
Justice on Trial from 2002-07-13T05:00
From the trials of Nazis at Nuremberg to the prosecution of war criminals in the former Yugoslavia, to people's courts in Rwanda -- how effective is the machinery of international justice?
Listen
Fast Food and Animal Rights from 2002-06-13T05:00
An unlikely corporation -- McDonald's -- has taken the lead in the campaign for animal welfare.
Listen
Kay Fulton's Diary from 2002-06-13T05:00
The intimate diary of a woman who loses her brother to terrorism.
Listen
Corrections, Inc. from 2002-04-13T05:00
How corporations, prison guard unions, and police agencies help to shape who gets locked up and for how long.
Listen
Who Bought the Farm? from 2002-03-13T06:00
Is there still a place in America for a competitive and independent family farm? And is the use of popular antibiotics on livestock leading us toward a public health crisis?
Listen
The Promise of Justice from 2002-02-13T06:00
Examining the machinery and insidious legacy of war crimes, and the struggle for justice in societies convulsed by mass violence.
Listen
Roots of Resentment from 2001-12-13T06:00
The United States inspires deep and conflicting emotions in other parts of the world. Since the terrorist attacks on September 11, America has been forced to pay closer attention.
Listen
With This Ring from 2001-11-13T06:00
Follow the international diamond trail from the buckets of child miners in war-torn Western Africa to America's jewelry counters.
Listen
Remembering Jim Crow from 2001-11-13T06:00
For much of the 20th century, African Americans endured a legal system in the American South that was calculated to segregate and humiliate them.
Listen
Burning the Evidence from 2001-10-01T22:00:47
During the war in Kosovo in 1999, war-crimes investigators suspected that Serbian forces were hiding evidence of atrocities by removing bodies of murdered Albanians from graves and execution sit...
Listen
A Russian Journey from 2001-08-13T05:00
Follow Russian writer Aleksandr Radishchev's 200-year-old footsteps from St. Petersburg to Moscow, and discover the soul of a people and the character of a nation.
Listen
The Global Politics of Food from 2001-06-13T05:00
The global economy is changing the way we think about food, from the kinds of things we eat, to the way food is grown and harvested.
Listen
America's Drug War from 2001-05-13T05:00
After 30 years America's War on drugs costs U.S. taxpayers $40 billion a year with no victory in sight. Combatants from both sides of the drug war shed light on the U.S. government's fig...
Listen
Oh Freedom Over Me from 2001-02-13T06:00
In the summer of 1964, about a thousand young Americans, black and white, came together in Mississippi for a peaceful assault on racism. It came to be known as Freedom Summer, one of the most re...
Listen
Radio Fights Jim Crow from 2001-02-13T06:00
During the World-War-II years a series of groundbreaking radio programs tried to mend the deep racial and ethnic divisions that threatened America.
Listen
Nicaragua 'Free Zone' from 2000-08-13T05:00
Global companies fight unions on former Sandinista turf.
Listen
Jailing the Mentally Ill from 2000-07-13T05:00
Why are so many mentally ill Americans behind bars?
Listen
Vietnam: A Nation, Not A War from 2000-04-13T05:00
To most Americans, Vietnam is a nation frozen in time and memory. It seems a distant place where 58,000 Americans lost their lives.
Listen
Shadow over Lockerbie from 2000-03-13T06:00
Two hundred seventy people died when Pan Am 103 was blown out of the sky over Lockerbie, Scotland, on December 21, 1988. It was the worst-ever act of airline terrorism against the United States....
Listen
Massacre at Cuska from 2000-02-13T06:00
In 1999 Serb death squads attacked the ethnic Albanian village of Cuska and left 41 unarmed civilians dead.
Listen
Walking Out of History: The True Story of Shackleton's Endurance Expedition from 1999-10-13T05:00
The true story of 28 men lost in Antarctica for almost two years, fighting ice and the ocean. It's the story of Sir Ernest Shackleton, the Endurance, and the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedit...
Listen
Evading the Virus from 1999-09-13T05:00
A small but growing number of scientists and doctors are helping couples with HIV get pregnant using experimental medical techniques that promise to reduce the risk of passing on HIV.
Listen
The Fertility Race from 1999-09-13T05:00
A series about the social implications of infertility and the advanced reproductive techniques designed to correct the condition.
Listen
The Forgotten 14 Million from 1999-05-13T05:00
One in five American children is growing up poor. Critics of welfare and other social programs say government spending hasn't solved poverty. But neither has economic growth.
Listen
The Positive Life from 1999-01-13T06:00
Teens with HIV face the challenge of preparing for an adulthood they may never reach.
Listen
Make Change, Not Money from 1998-09-13T05:00
Nonprofits are being asked to step in to address some of America's most pressing social ills as government steps back.
Listen
The World Turned Upside Down from 1998-03-13T06:00
An extraordinary moment: America in a rare period of price stability.
Listen
Frances Densmore, Song Catcher from 1997-02-13T06:00
Frances Densmore spent her life gathering cultural artifacts of old Indian ways.
Listen
Face of Mercy, Face of Hate from 1996-09-13T05:00
Predrag Bundalo was waiting for a cup of coffee when a bullet, fired at point-blank range, killed him. He was sitting on the enemy's couch.
Listen
Face of Mercy, Face of Hate from 1996-09-13T05:00
Predrag Bundalo was waiting for a cup of coffee when a bullet, fired at point-blank range, killed him. He was sitting on the enemy's couch.
Listen
Face of Mercy, Face of Hate from 1996-09-13T05:00
Predrag Bundalo was waiting for a cup of coffee when a bullet, fired at point-blank range, killed him. He was sitting on the enemy's couch.
Listen