Throughline
326 episodes - English - Latest episode: 18 days ago - ★★★★★ - 14.4K ratingsThroughline is a time machine. Each episode, we travel beyond the headlines to answer the question, "How did we get here?" We use sound and stories to bring history to life and put you into the middle of it. From ancient civilizations to forgotten figures, we take you directly to the moments that shaped our world. Throughline is hosted by Peabody Award-winning journalists Rund Abdelfatah and Ramtin Arablouei.
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Episodes
Chaos
March 18, 2021 04:01 - 1 hour - 58.6 MBWhat happens when teenagers are shipwrecked on a deserted island? Can you find the fingerprint of God in warzones? Why was the concept of zero so revolutionary for humanity? A year into a pandemic that has completely upended the lives of people around the world, we look at how we cope with chaos, how we're primed to make order out of randomness, and why the stories we're taught to believe about our propensities for self-destruction may not actually be true. Learn more about sponsor message c...
N95
March 11, 2021 05:01 - 40 minutesThe N95 respirator has become one of the most coveted items in the world during the pandemic, especially by medical professionals. But how did this seemingly simple mask become the lifesaving tool it is today? From bird beaks to wrapping paper to bras, we follow the curious history of one of the most important defenses in our fight against COVID-19. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Levittown: Where the Good Life Begins
March 04, 2021 05:01 - 44 minutesIn this episode from WNYC's La Brega, Alana Casanova-Burgess traces back the story of the boom and bust of the Puerto Rican Levittown. For many Americans, Levittown is the prototypical suburb, founded on the idea of bringing Americans into a middle-class lifestyle after WWII. But while the NY Levittown was becoming a symbol of American prosperity, there was a parallel story of Levittown in Puerto Rico during a time of great change on the island. Casanova-Burgess (herself the granddaughter of...
Bayard Rustin: The Man Behind the March on Washington
February 25, 2021 05:00 - 1 hour - 65.4 MBBayard Rustin, the man behind the March on Washington, was one of the most consequential architects of the civil rights movement you may never have heard of. Rustin imagined how nonviolent civil resistance could be used to dismantle segregation in the United States. He organized around the idea for years and eventually introduced it to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. But his identity as a gay man made him a target, obscured his rightful status and made him feel forced to choose, again and again, w...
Octavia Butler: Visionary Fiction
February 18, 2021 07:06 - 1 hour - 62.4 MBOctavia Butler's alternate realities and 'speculative fiction' reveal striking, and often devastating parallels to the world we live in today. She was a deep observer of the human condition, perplexed and inspired by our propensity towards self-destruction. Butler was also fascinated by the cyclical nature of history, and often looked to the past when writing about the future. Along with her warnings is her message of hope - a hope conjured by centuries of survival and persistence. For every ...
Marcus Garvey: Pan-Africanist
February 11, 2021 05:01 - 1 hour - 59.3 MBDecades before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey attracted millions with a simple, uncompromising message: Black people deserved nothing less than everything, and if that couldn't happen in the United States, they should return to Africa. This week, the seismic influence and complicated legacy of Marcus Garvey. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
The Lasting Power Of Whitney Houston's National Anthem
February 07, 2021 05:01 - 23 minutes - 23.1 MBWhy does Whitney Houston's 1991 Super Bowl national anthem still resonate 30 years later? Listen to this episode from our friends at It's Been A Minute with Sam Sanders where they chat with author and Black Girl Songbook host Danyel Smith about that moment of Black history and what it says about race, patriotism and pop culture. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
What Happened After Civilization Collapsed
February 04, 2021 05:01 - 56 minutes - 53.4 MBWhat happens after everything falls apart? The end of the Bronze Age was a moment when an entire network of ancient civilizations collapsed, leaving behind only clues to what happened. Today, scholars have pieced together a story where everything from climate change to mass migration to natural disasters played a role. What the end of the Bronze Age can teach us about avoiding catastrophe and what comes after collapse. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices N...
The Anatomy Of Autocracy: Masha Gessen
January 28, 2021 05:01 - 43 minutes - 41.9 MBRussian-born journalist Masha Gessen talks to us about how the rule of the people becomes the rule of the one, the role of the media, and what we can learn about the building blocks of autocracy from the work of philosopher and writer Hannah Arendt, and what history tells us are the ways to dismantle it. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
The Anatomy of Autocracy: Timothy Snyder
January 21, 2021 05:01 - 38 minutes - 36.7 MBWhen a mob of pro-Trump supporters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, they also incited a defining moment in United States history. Now what? Historian Timothy Snyder talks to us about how we got here and what an insurrection could mean for the future of America. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Impeachment
January 14, 2021 05:01 - 19 minutes - 17.7 MBWhen Andrew Johnson became president in 1865, the United States was in the midst of one of its most volatile chapters. The country was divided after fighting a bloody civil war and had just experienced the first presidential assassination. We look at how these factors led to the first presidential impeachment in American history. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Outside/In: Everybody Knows Somebody
January 07, 2021 05:01 - 59 minutes - 54.5 MBIn the mid-1980's a woman who didn't consider herself a feminist was asked to solve perhaps the biggest problem women face. How she and a small group of people seized on that rare moment and fought back in the hopes that something could finally be done.
Outside/In: Everybody Knows Somebody
January 07, 2021 05:01 - 57 minutes - 54.5 MBIn the mid-1980's a woman who didn't consider herself a feminist was asked to solve perhaps the biggest problem women face. How she and a small group of people seized on that rare moment and fought back in the hopes that something could finally be done. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Outside/In: War of the Worlds
December 31, 2020 05:01 - 37 minutes - 35.4 MBThe Sunni-Shia divide is a conflict that most people have heard about - two sects with Sunni Islam being in the majority and Shia Islam the minority. Exactly how did this conflict originate and when? We go through 1400 years of history to find the moment this divide first turned deadly and how it has evolved since. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Outside/In: The Dark Side Of The Moon
December 24, 2020 05:01 - 41 minutes - 39.7 MB50 years ago the world watched as man first landed on the moon, an incredible accomplishment by the engineers and scientists of NASA. But what if some of those same engineers and scientists had a secret history that the U.S. government tried to hide? This week, the story of how the U.S. space program was made possible by former Nazis. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Outside/In: Rules of Engagement
December 17, 2020 05:01 - 52 minutes - 48.4 MBThe US and Iran have been in some state of conflict for the last 40 years, since the Iranian revolution. This week, we look at three key moments in this conflict to better understand where it might go next.
Outside/In: Rules of Engagement
December 17, 2020 05:01 - 51 minutes - 48.4 MBThe US and Iran have been in some state of conflict for the last 40 years, since the Iranian revolution. This week, we look at three key moments in this conflict to better understand where it might go next. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Supreme
December 10, 2020 05:01 - 1 hour - 57 MBWhen, why, and how did the Supreme Court get the final say in the law of the land? The question of the Court's role, and whether its decisions should reign above all the other branches of government, has been hotly debated for centuries. And that's resulted in a Supreme Court more powerful than anything the Founding Fathers could have imagined possible. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
A Pack Of Wolves
December 03, 2020 05:01 - 52 minutes - 47.6 MBIt has been nearly twenty years since 9/11 and during that time much of the media coverage and government attention has been directed at the threat of radical Islamist terrorism. Yet, during that time, it has been domestic terrorism from armed, mostly white American men, that has posed the biggest threat. This week, the rise of the modern white power movement.
The Modern White Power Movement
December 03, 2020 05:01 - 49 minutes - 47.6 MBIt has been nearly twenty years since 9/11 and during that time much of the media coverage and government attention has been directed at the threat of radical Islamist terrorism. Yet, during that time, it has been domestic terrorism from armed, mostly white American men, that has posed the biggest threat. This week, the rise of the modern white power movement. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
The Spotted Owl
November 26, 2020 05:01 - 35 minutes - 32.5 MBThe story of how the Endangered Species Act went from unanimous passage under a Republican president to becoming a deeply partisan wedge. The act was passed to protect big, beloved animals like bald eagles and blue whales; no one thought it would apply to a motley, reclusive owl. In this episode from Oregon Public Broadcasting's Timber Wars, a story about saving the last of America's old growth forests and the push to roll back environmental protections.
The Spotted Owl
November 26, 2020 05:01 - 33 minutes - 32.5 MBThe story of how the Endangered Species Act went from unanimous passage under a Republican president to becoming a deeply partisan wedge. The act was passed to protect big, beloved animals like bald eagles and blue whales; no one thought it would apply to a motley, reclusive owl. In this episode from Oregon Public Broadcasting's Timber Wars, a story about saving the last of America's old growth forests and the push to roll back environmental protections. Learn more about sponsor message choi...
The Invention of Race
November 19, 2020 05:01 - 40 minutes - 39.1 MBThe idea that race is a social construct comes from the pioneering work of anthropologist Franz Boas. During a time when race-based science and the eugenics movement were becoming mainstream, anthropologist Franz Boas actively sought to prove that race was a social construct, not a biological fact. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
BONUS: Louder Than A Riot
November 16, 2020 05:01 - 49 minutes - 47.7 MBThis week we're bringing you something extra, an episode from the NPR Music series, Louder Than A Riot. The series examines the relationship between hip hop and mass incarceration and you can find the rest of the series here. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
The Shadows of the Constitution
November 12, 2020 05:01 - 44 minutes - 42.1 MBThe Constitution is like America's secular bible, our sacred founding document. In her play, What the Constitution Means to Me, Heidi Schreck goes through a process of discovering what the document is really about – who wrote it, who it was for, who it protected and who it didn't. Through Heidi's personal story, we learn how the Constitution and how it has been interpreted have affected not just her family but generations of Americans. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices...
Bush v. Gore and Why It Matters in 2020
November 05, 2020 05:01 - 29 minutes - 28.3 MBIn the 2000 presidential election, results weren't known in one night, a week, or even a month. This week, we share an episode we loved from It's Been A Minute with Sam Sanders that revisits one of the most turbulent elections in U.S. history and what it could teach us as we wait for this election's outcome. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
The Most Sacred Right
October 29, 2020 04:01 - 1 hour - 59.6 MBFrederick Douglass dreamed of a country where all people could vote and he did everything in his power to make that dream a reality. In the face of slavery, the Civil War and the violence of Jim Crow, he fought his entire life for what he believed was a sacred, natural right that should be available to all people - voting. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
How We Vote
October 22, 2020 13:47 - 58 minutes - 55 MBDrunken brawls, coercion, and lace curtains. Believe it or not, how regular people vote was not something the founding fathers thought much about, or planned for. Americans went from casting votes at drunken parties in the town square to private booths behind a drawn curtain. In this episode, the process of voting; how it was originally designed, who it was intended for, moments in our country's history when we reimagined it altogether, and what we're left with today. Learn more about sponso...
The Electoral College
October 15, 2020 04:01 - 57 minutes - 53.8 MBWhat is it, why do we have it, and why hasn't it changed? Born from a rushed, fraught, imperfect process, the origins and evolution of the Electoral College might surprise you and make you think differently about not only this upcoming presidential election, but our democracy as a whole. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
(mis)Representative Democracy, A New Series From Throughline
October 08, 2020 12:00 - 1 minute - 1.62 MBAmerica has never been a country of one person, one vote. And that's by design. Our system was built by a select few, for a select few. We were never all supposed to get a say. In this series, we'll take a close look at voting in America, and how that's shaped what American democracy is, what it was meant to be, where it's failed, and what it might become. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
The United States vs. Billie Holiday
October 08, 2020 04:01 - 33 minutes - 32.1 MBBillie Holiday helped shape American popular music with her voice and unique style. But, one song in particular has become her greatest legacy — "Strange Fruit." The song paints an unflinching picture of racial violence, and it was an unexpected hit. But singing it brought serious consequences. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
The Everlasting Problem
October 01, 2020 04:01 - 54 minutes - 51.2 MBHealth insurance for millions of Americans is dependent on their jobs. But it's not like that everywhere. So, how did the U.S. end up with such a fragile system that leaves so many vulnerable or with no health insurance at all? On this episode, how a temporary solution created an everlasting problem. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
The Evangelical Vote
September 24, 2020 04:01 - 1 hour - 58.6 MBWith the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the president is hoping to fill the seat with a more ideologically conservative justice. And evangelical Christians, who've become a powerful conservative voting bloc, have been waiting for this moment. But how and when did this religious group become so intertwined with today's political issues, especially abortion? In this episode, what it means to be an evangelical today and how that has changed over time. Learn more about sponsor message choices: po...
James Baldwin's Fire
September 17, 2020 04:01 - 45 minutes - 42 MBIn a moment when America is undertaking an uncomfortable reckoning with its racial inequality and violence, we wanted to look back at someone who concentrated on race in America his entire life. Considered to be one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, James Baldwin wrote incessantly about the societal issues that still exist today. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
The Postal Service
September 10, 2020 04:20 - 28 minutes - 27.5 MBThe US Postal Service has played a role throughout American history - from the Declaration of Independence to today's mail-in voting. It was conceived of by the founders as the way to create a united, informed and effective American democracy. But today, the postal service's future is in danger. How the postal service created the United States and the case for this pivotal institution. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Reframing History: Mass Incarceration
September 03, 2020 04:01 - 48 minutes - 45.9 MBThe United States imprisons more people than any other country in the world, and a disproportionate number of those prisoners are Black. What are the origins of the U.S. criminal justice system and how did racism shape it? From the creation of the first penitentiaries in the 1800s, to the "tough-on-crime" prosecutors of the 1990s, how America created a culture of mass incarceration. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Reframing History: Mass Incarceration
September 03, 2020 04:01 - 50 minutes - 45.9 MBThe United States imprisons more people than any other country in the world, and a disproportionate number of those prisoners are Black. What are the origins of the U.S. criminal justice system and how did racism shape it? From the creation of the first penitentiaries in the 1800s, to the "tough-on-crime" prosecutors of the 1990s, how America created a culture of mass incarceration.
Reframing History: Bananas
August 27, 2020 04:01 - 56 minutes - 53.7 MBThe banana is a staple of the American diet and has been for generations. But how did this exotic tropical fruit become so commonplace? How one Brooklyn-born entrepreneur ruthlessly created the modern banana industry and the infamous banana republics. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Reframing History: The Commentator
August 20, 2020 04:01 - 30 minutes - 30.4 MBToday the foundations of philosophy are seen as a straight line from Western antiquity, built on thinkers such as Plato and Aristotle. But, between the 8th century and 14th century, the West was greatly overshadowed by the Islamic world and philosophy was in very different hands. This week, how one Medieval Islamic philosopher put his pen to paper and shaped the modern world. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Reframing History: The Litter Myth
August 13, 2020 04:01 - 32 minutes - 31.9 MBThere is more waste in the world today than at any time in history, and the responsibility for keeping the environment clean too often falls on individuals instead of manufacturers. But, why us? And why this feeling of responsibility? This week, how one organization changed the American public's relationship with waste and who is ultimately responsible for it. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
America's Caste System
August 06, 2020 04:01 - 40 minutes - 35.9 MB"Race" is often used as a fundamental way to understand American history. But what if "caste" is the more appropriate lens? In conversation with Pulitzer Prize winner Isabel Wilkerson, we examine the hidden system that has shaped our country. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
A.D.A. Now!
July 30, 2020 04:01 - 1 hour - 57.5 MBThis month marks the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which is considered the most important civil rights law since the 1960s. Through first-person stories, we look back at the making of this movement, the history of how disability came to be seen as a civil rights issue, and what the disability community is still fighting for 30 years later. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Lives Of The Great Depression
July 23, 2020 04:01 - 46 minutes - 44 MBThe Great Depression was a revolutionary spark for all kinds of things — health insurance, social safety nets, big government — all of which were in response to a national crisis. Through the personal accounts of four people who lived during the Great Depression, we look back at what life was like back then and what those stories can teach us about the last time the U.S. went through a national economic cataclysm. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR ...
Borinquén
July 16, 2020 04:01 - 1 hour - 61.7 MBPuerto Rico became a U.S. territory in 1898 and for much of the next fifty years Puerto Ricans fought fiercely about this status. Should they struggle for independence, or to be a U.S. state, or something in between? In this episode, we look at Puerto Rico's relationship with the mainland U.S. and the key figures who shaped the island's fate. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
The Long Hot Summer
July 09, 2020 04:01 - 41 minutes - 39.5 MBStarting in 1965, summer after summer, America's cities burned. There was civil unrest in more than 150 cities across the country. So in 1967, Lyndon Johnson appointed a commission to diagnose the root causes of the problem and to suggest solutions. What the so called "Kerner Commission" returned with was hotly anticipated and shocking to many Americans. This week, how that report and the reaction to it continues to shape American life. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoice...
Mecca Under Siege
July 02, 2020 04:01 - 43 minutes - 41.6 MBHajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, is effectively canceled this year, due to concerns around the spread of the coronavirus. But, for two weeks in 1979, visits to the holy site were also upended when a group of Islamic militants seized Mecca, taking thousands of visitors hostage. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
There's Something About Mary
June 25, 2020 04:01 - 40 minutes - 38.7 MBWhen a cook who carried typhoid fever refused to stop working, despite showing no symptoms, the authorities forcibly quarantined her for nearly three decades. Perfect villain or just a woman scapegoated because of her background? What the story of Typhoid Mary tells us about journalism, the powers of the state, and the tension between personal responsibility and personal liberty. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Why 2020 Isn't Quite 1968
June 18, 2020 04:01 - 27 minutes - 26.4 MBProtests, racial divisions, political polarization, and a law-and-order president – it's easy to draw comparisons between 2020 and 1968. But, Adam Serwer, who covers politics at The Atlantic, says that a much better point of comparison actually starts a century earlier – 1868. This week, we share an episode we loved from It's Been A Minute with Sam Sanders that explores a moment when white Republicans fought for years for the rights of Black Americans, before abandoning them to pursue white ...
Presidential Power
June 11, 2020 04:01 - 51 minutes - 48.1 MBWhat can and can't the president do, and how do we know? When the framers of the U.S. constitution left vague the powers of the executive branch they opened the door to every president to decide how much power they could claim. This week, how the office of the presidency became more powerful than anything the Founding Fathers imagined possible. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
American Police
June 04, 2020 04:08 - 1 hour - 59.3 MBBlack Americans being victimized and killed by the police is an epidemic. A truth many Americans are acknowledging since the murder of George Floyd, as protests have occurred in all fifty states calling for justice on his behalf. But this tension between African American communities and the police has existed for centuries. This week, the origins of American policing and how those origins put violent control of Black Americans at the heart of the system. Learn more about sponsor message choi...