Stories about people who are not afraid of fire, though perhaps they should be.
-
Download Control-click (or right-click) Tap and hold to download
- Share a clip
- Transcript
Act One
Firestarter
Why one teenager set fires and then stopped setting them. Paul Tough interview. (7 minutes)
Act Two
Centralia
An inextinguishable subterranean fire on the edge of a small Pennsylvania town, and why the residents are not afraid of it. Host Ira Glass and This American Life contributor Alix Spiegel. (15 minutes)
Act Three
Fearless
Producer Nancy Updike with Ki Kim, who's not afraid of walking on coals. But maybe he should have been. (8 minutes)
Act Four
Act Five
Related
If you enjoyed this episode, you may like these
Act Three: What's So Funny About Peace, Love And Understanding?
Alix Spiegel travels with a group of white suburbanites as they pretend to be runaway slaves, at the Conner Prairie Living History Museum.
Act Three
Claudia Perez talks about how her 21-year-old brother was shot and the family thought he'd die.
Act Two: When Czechs Bounce
If part of the impulse behind the Tiananmen Square uprising was the pure desire to feel like life had possibility, that the future had potential...that impulse was behind another movement.
Staff Recommendations
Abdi and the Golden Ticket
A story about someone who's desperately trying – against long odds – to make it to the United States and become an American.
Arms Trader (2009)
The U.S. government spent two years on a sting operation trapping an Indian man suspected of being an illegal arms dealer.