A series of first-person documentaries reflecting the perspectives of ordinary people around the world.
World Views
ProjectsDates
1997-2003
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Barbara Ferry, Deborah Begel
World Views
Luis and Negra
Barbara Ferry, Deborah Begel
World Views
Luis and Negra
Mexican-American writer Luis Alberto Urrea returns to the slums of Tijuana, where he worked as a young man, to see a woman he knew as a girl. His story, for This American Life, explores the sometimes uneasy relationship between “first world” writers and their “third world” subjects.
In the late 1970s, Luis Alberto Urrea was working in the slums of Tijuana and Ana María “Negra” Calderón was a barefoot young girl, the unschooled daughter of garbage pickers. Nearly 25 years later, Luis is now a celebrated writer, winner of the American Book Award, and a tenured professor in Chicago.
Back in Tijuana, Negra is struggling to raise her children and those of her sister, who was killed by her husband. In this piece Luis travels back to Tijuana to see Negra after an absence of seven years. He explores his sometimes uneasy relationship and the obligations that “first world” writers have toward their “third world” subjects.
Date
October 2003Outlets
This American Life -
Sam Quiñones
World Views
Tijuana Opera
Sam Quiñones
World Views
Tijuana Opera
Tijuana has been known for bullfights and beer, but the Mexican border city also has a growing opera community. Recitals and lectures are frequent, Tijuana natives are studying and performing in opera’s European citadels, and the city now has its first opera.
Tijuana has been known for bullfights and beer, but the Mexican border city also has a growing opera community. Recitals and lectures are frequent, Tijuana natives are studying and performing in opera’s European citadels, and the city now has its first opera.
Date
August 2003Outlets
Weekend Edition -
Victoria Mauleón
World Views
Panorama, Texas
Victoria Mauleón
World Views
Panorama, Texas
A Mexican immigrant organizes the residents of his slum on the Texas side of the Mexican border.
The misery of Mexican slum colonias has long been visible just across from many U.S. border towns. Over the past decade, however, despite the economic promise of NAFTA, the phenomenon has spread to the U.S. side.
Today, a half-million Texans live in more than 1,500 colonias that lack running water and sewage treatment. We follow Mexican immigrant Oscar Solís of Panorama, Texas, as he organizes his community to fight for changes.
A Spanish-language version is also available.
Date
April 2003Outlets
Latino USA -
Barbara Ferry
World Views
Border Soldiers
Barbara Ferry
World Views
Border Soldiers
A story from 2003 about how the then-new U.S. war in Iraq was affecting the Juárez, Mexico, families of American soldiers fighting overseas.
How the U.S. war in Iraq is affecting the Juárez, Mexico, families of American soldiers fighting overseas.
Date
April 2003Outlets
Latino USA -
Cecilia Vaisman
World Views
The Cross of Juárez
Cecilia Vaisman
World Views
The Cross of Juárez
A wave of assassinations of women factory workers in Ciudad Juárez shows no sign of abating, and trust between the twin cities of El Paso and Juárez has given way to a climate of fear.
A wave of assassinations of women factory workers in Ciudad Juárez shows no sign of abating. As accusations fly back and forth across the border, trust between the twin cities of El Paso and Juárez has given way to a climate of fear.
A Spanish version of this story is also available.
Date
February 2003Outlets
Latino USA -
Sandy Tolan
World Views
Runaway
Sandy Tolan
World Views
Runaway
Debra Gwartney loved her two oldest daughters and they loved her in return. But then Debra divorced and moved the family, and relations with her daughters got worse and worse. Finally, at the ages of 13 and 14, they ran away. In this story for This American Life, mother and daughters try to retrace what went wrong.
The chronicle of a family that unraveled. Debra Gwartney loved her two oldest daughters like she loved herself. And they loved her in return. But Debra got a divorce, moved the family to Oregon, and relations with her daughters got worse and worse. Finally, at the ages of thirteen and fourteen, they ran away.
In this story, Debra and her daughters try and retrace what, exactly, went wrong.
Date
March 2002Outlets
This American Life -
Sandy Tolan
World Views
Roots of Resentment, Part II
Sandy Tolan
World Views
Roots of Resentment, Part II
Produced for NPR in the wake of the September 11 attacks, this documentary explores the historical roots of anger in the Arab world toward the west in general, and the U.S. in particular. Part 2 of a two-part series.
Produced for NPR in the wake of the September 11 attacks, this is the second of a two-part documentary exploring the historical roots of anger in the Arab world toward the west in general, and the U.S. in particular.
Date
December 2001Tags
Themes: Peace & Conflict, LivesRegions: Middle EastMedia: AudioOther Contributors: Sandy Tolan -
Stephen Smith
World Views
Roots of Resentment, Part I
Stephen Smith
World Views
Roots of Resentment, Part I
Produced for NPR in the wake of the September 11 attacks, this story explores the historical roots of anger in the Arab world toward the west in general, and the U.S. in particular. Part 1 of a two-part series.
Produced for NPR in the wake of the September 11 attacks, this two-part documentary explores the historical roots of anger in the Arab world toward the west in general, and the U.S. in particular.
This story, by Stephen Smith of American RadioWorks, is the first part of a two-part series.
Date
December 2001 -
Chris Brookes
World Views
Newfoundland Shipwreck Survivor
Chris Brookes
World Views
Newfoundland Shipwreck Survivor
Lanier Philips, an African-American sailor, was on a US Navy ship wrecked during a storm off the coast of Newfoundland during World War II. More than 200 of his shipmates died, but he was rescued. The treatment he received forever altered his life, opening his eyes to the possibility of a world without racism.
This is a story about a young sailor from the Deep South, and an experience that changed his life. Lanier Philips was on a U.S. Navy ship wrecked during a vicious storm off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, during World War II.
More than 200 of Philips’ shipmates died, but he was rescued. The treatment Philips received as he recuperated forever altered his life, opening his eyes to the possibility of a world without racism.
Date
December 2001Outlets
This American Life -
Barbara Ferry
World Views
Eco Pilot
Barbara Ferry
World Views
Eco Pilot
American flyer Sandy Lanham helps Mexican environmentalists track endangered wildlife. Winner of the 2002 Gracie Allen Award.
American flyer Sandy Lanham helps Mexican environmentalists track endangered wildlife. Winner of the 2002 Gracie Allen Award.
Date
October 2001Outlets
Living on Earth -
Sandy Tolan
World Views
A Bean of a Different Color
Sandy Tolan
World Views
A Bean of a Different Color
How a humble bean spurred an international trade dispute and served as a metaphor for mounting intellectual property battles in the new global economy.
How a humble bean spurred an international trade dispute and served as a metaphor for mounting intellectual property battles in the new global economy.
Date
June 2001 -
Sandy Tolan
World Views
Coming North
Sandy Tolan
World Views
Coming North
A visit to a shelter for transients in the Mexican border town of Nogales, where would-be migrants prepare for the harrowing trip across the border to the United States.
A visit to a shelter for transients in the Mexican border town of Nogales, where would-be migrants prepare for the harrowing trip across the border to the United States. Tens of thousands of Mexicans and Central Americans have passed through the shelter, undeterred by the frequent deaths of their compatriots in the Arizona desert.
Date
May 2001Outlets
All Things Considered -
Sandy Tolan
World Views
Me and Hank
Sandy Tolan
World Views
Me and Hank
The story of a boy and his hero, baseball slugger Hank Aaron, 25 years after Aaron’s traumatic chase for baseball’s all-time career home run record, and an exploration of the hatred Aaron endured in chasing a white man’s record.
The story of a boy and his hero, baseball slugger Hank Aaron, 25 years after Aaron’s dramatic chase for baseball’s all-time career home run record, and an exploration of the hatred Aaron endured in chasing a white man’s record.
This story is based on reporting for Sandy Tolan’s book, Me and Hank (Free Press, 2000).
Date
August 2000Outlets
Weekend Edition -
Sandy Tolan
World Views
Ethiopian Jews
Sandy Tolan
World Views
Ethiopian Jews
A profile of Shula Mulah, an Israeli woman of Ethiopian descent, who came to Israel in 1984 as part of an airlift called “Operation Moses.”
A profile of Shula Mulah, an Israeli woman of Ethiopian descent, who came to Israel in 1984 as part of an airlift called “Operation Moses.” She explores her dual identity and issues of race in Israel.
Date
June 2000Outlets
Weekend EditionTags
Themes: LivesRegions: Africa, Middle EastMedia: AudioOther Contributors: Sandy TolanOther Tags: ethiopian, jewish, judaism, operation moses, race, shulah mulah, Ethiopia, israel, Jew, identity -
Cecilia Vaisman
World Views
Operation Pedro Pan
Cecilia Vaisman
World Views
Operation Pedro Pan
The story of a six-year-old girl and the secret U.S.-funded program that sent her and thousands of unaccompanied Cuban children to live in the United States.
In early 1960, just after the Cuban revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power, rumors spread throughout Cuba that the newly installed communist government would take children away from their parents and ship them off to work camps in the Soviet Union. Frightened parents started sending their children alone to Miami under a secret program run by a Catholic priest and financed in part by the U.S. government. María de los Torres was six years old when she landed in Miami as part of this massive airlift.
Date
May 2000Outlets
All Things Considered -
Alan Weisman
World Views
Gloria Flora and the Elko Uprising
Alan Weisman
World Views
Gloria Flora and the Elko Uprising
A rising star in the U.S. Forest Service runs afoul of monied interests – and her own agency – as she tries to protect public lands from depredation.
Gloria Flora was a rising star in the U.S. Forest Service, one whom many thought might become the first woman to head the agency. But her promotion to head a national forest in Nevada ended up scuttling her career. The story of Flora’s downfall demonstrates the widening war between local citizens and federal natural resource managers over who should determine the fate of public lands.
Date
March 2000Outlets
Living on EarthTags
Themes: Environment, LivesRegions: North AmericaMedia: AudioOther Contributors: Alan Weisman -
Joelle Pouliot
World Views
Cholera Diary
Joelle Pouliot
World Views
Cholera Diary
A Canadian physician who joined Doctors Without Borders to help others ends up learning quite a bit about herself.
Doctors without Borders is the world’s largest independent, international medical relief agency. The group’s physicians aid the victims of war and natural disasters who don’t have health care because they live in remote areas of the world. Volunteers do everything from emergency surgery to vaccinating children to training local medical staff.
In this story, we hear the diary of Joelle Pouliot, a physician from Canada, who joined Doctors without Borders to help others and ended up learning quite a bit about herself along the way.
Date
October 1999 -
Chris Brookes, Michele Ernsting
World Views
Mucho Corazón
Chris Brookes, Michele Ernsting
World Views
Mucho Corazón
The story of a Dutchman, a Cuban woman, and true love in a Cuban factory for pipe organs. A chronicle of passion, music, and international politics.
The story of a Dutchman, a Cuban woman, and true love in a Cuban factory for pipe organs. A chronicle of passion, music, and international politics.
Date
February 1999Outlets
This American Life -
Cecilia Vaisman
World Views
Alicia’s Story
Cecilia Vaisman
World Views
Alicia’s Story
A documentary exploring how Alicia Rodriguez, the U.S.-born, middle-class daughter of Puerto Rican immigrants, became a self-described freedom fighter for an island she first visited at age 21.
Alicia Rodriguez speaks from a federal prison in California, where she is serving an 86-year-prison term for seditious conspiracy and other crimes related to a 1970’s bombing campaign by the Puerto Rican independence group FALN. Four people were killed in one of the bombings, but none of the FALN defendants was charged with murder.
FALN is the Spanish acronym for “Armed Forces of National Liberation.” This documentary explores how Rodriguez, the U.S.-born, middle-class daughter of Puerto Rican immigrants, became a self-described freedom fighter for an island she first visited at age 21.
Date
December 1998Outlets
All Things ConsideredTags
Themes: Lives, Peace & ConflictRegions: North AmericaMedia: AudioOther Contributors: Cecilia Vaisman -
Sandy Tolan
World Views
The Stone and the Viola
Sandy Tolan
World Views
The Stone and the Viola
A first-person profile of a West Bank boy who grew up throwing stones at Israeli soldiers. Now, as a teenager, he has embarked on a life in music. The inspiration for Sandy Tolan’s 2015 book “Children of the Stone.”
A first-person profile of Ramzi Hussein Aburedwan, who, as an eight-year-old boy in a West Bank refugee camp, threw stones at Israeli soldiers during the intifada. Ten years later, he picked up a bow and a viola and set out on a path toward a life of music.
This story was the seed for Sandy Tolan’s 2015 book Children of the Stone.
Date
May 1998Outlets
Weekend EditionTags
Themes: Lives, Peace & ConflictRegions: Middle EastMedia: AudioOther Contributors: Sandy Tolan -
Sandy Tolan
World Views
The Lemon Tree
Sandy Tolan
World Views
The Lemon Tree
An audio documentary, weaving the voices of an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man whose families occupied the same house, exploring the roots of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
An audio documentary, told in first-person by an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man whose families occupied the same house, exploring the roots of the Arab-Israeli conflict. This piece, which originally aired on NPR’s Fresh Air, grew into Sandy Tolan’s award-winning 2006 book The Lemon Tree: An Arab, A Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East.
Date
May 1998Outlets
NPR's Fresh Air -
Sandy Tolan
World Views
The Poet and the Rickshaw Driver
Sandy Tolan
World Views
The Poet and the Rickshaw Driver
An Indian poet, Gagan Gill, describes her encounter with a homeless rickshaw driver on the streets of Delhi.
An Indian poet, Gagan Gill, describes her encounter with a homeless rickshaw driver on the streets of Delhi.
Date
August 1997Outlets
Weekend Edition -
Sandy Tolan
World Views
Susan Walsh
Sandy Tolan
World Views
Susan Walsh
A profile, for This American Life, of a New Jersey go-go dancer who disappeared and was never found.
A profile, for This American Life, of a New Jersey go-go dancer who disappeared and was never found.
Date
February 1997Outlets
This American Life