{"podcast":{"title":"This American Life","slug":"this-american-life-7814501","podcast_index_feed_id":7814501,"rss_url":"https://www.spreaker.com/show/6951904/episodes/feed","website_url":"https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/this-american-life--6951904","image_url":"https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/a8cc3fda8587d4c2f0051724d6c96553.jpg","author":"Wicoto","episode_count":31,"summary":"This American Life: The Full Visual Archive First-person stories and investigative journalism that capture the essence of the American experience. From quirky subcultures to high-stakes political dramas, we bring you the stories that shape our nation. 🌍 SEE THE STORIES: Access the original documents, historical photos, and witness profiles for each episode by following the link in our descriptions. 👇 The journey continues here : https://goo.su/XwNQm","last_synced_at":"2026-07-27T02:19:38.723220+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-american-life-7814501"},"episode":{"title":"890: Maximal Americanness","slug":"890-maximal-americanness","published_at":"2026-07-05T22:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-american-life-7814501/890-maximal-americanness","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-american-life-7814501","url":"https://www.spreaker.com/episode/890-maximal-americanness--72833480","audio_url":"https://api.spreaker.com/download/episode/72833480/default.mp3","summary":"On this country's 250th birthday, we bring you stories about the most American people, places, objects, and social norms that make this country what it is. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription. Prologue: Ira talks to Pablo Torre about Major League Baseball’s new challenge system, and how it’s been optimized for maximum drama. (10 minutes) Act One: Writer Jiayang Fan wrestles with a very common question she has never quite understood. (5 minutes) Act Two: People come from all over the country to walk down one of Michigan’s tallest sand dunes, and then promptly turn around and trudge back up. Aviva DeKornfeld talks to Americans spending their limited vacation time on this punishing activity. (8 minutes) Act Three: Emanuele Berry talks to Ira about Season 13 of the reality TV show, Survivor, known to fans as the “race war” season. (8 minutes) Act Four: Years before his famous dictionary, Noah Webster wrote a book that took on a life of its own and served an unexpected purpose. (8 minutes) Act Five: Emmanuel Dzotsi investigates a musical phenomenon very particular to the United States: singers embellishing the end of the national anthem. (9 minutes) Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org This American Life privacy policy. Learn more about sponsor message choices. 🎬 SEE THE STORY UNFOLD: Want to see the original photos, documents, and the faces behind this week's acts? 👇 View the visual archive for this episode here: https://goo.su/XwNQm (Updated for each story)","meta_description":"On this country's 250th birthday, we bring you stories about the most American people, places, objects, and social norms that make this country what it is…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3286,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/this-american-life-7814501/episodes/890-maximal-americanness/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-american-life-7814501/890-maximal-americanness.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}