Throughline

Throughline 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.Subscribe to Throughline+. You'll be supporting the history-reframing, perspective-shifting, time-warping stories you can't get enough of - and you'll unlock access bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org/throughline

319 episodes transcribed
0 comments
History

America's Caste System

Episode Date: August 6, 2020

"Race" is often used as a fundamental way to understand American history. But what if "caste" is the more appropriate lens? In conversation with Pulit...

0 comments
History

A.D.A. Now!

Episode Date: July 30, 2020

This month marks the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which is considered the most important civil rights law since the 1960s....

0 comments
History

Borinquén

Episode Date: July 16, 2020

Puerto 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...

0 comments
History

The Long Hot Summer

Episode Date: July 9, 2020

Starting 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...

0 comments
History

Mecca Under Siege

Episode Date: July 2, 2020

Hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, is effectively canceled this year, due to concerns around the spread of the coronavirus. But, for two wee...

0 comments
History

Why 2020 Isn't Quite 1968

Episode Date: June 18, 2020

Protests, racial divisions, political polarization, and a law-and-order president – it's easy to draw comparisons between 2020 and 1968. But, Adam Se...

0 comments
History

Presidential Power

Episode Date: June 11, 2020

What 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...

0 comments
History

American Police

Episode Date: June 4, 2020

Black Americans being victimized and killed by the police is an epidemic. A truth many Americans are acknowledging since the murder of George Floyd, a...

0 comments
History

Hong Kong

Episode Date: May 28, 2020

Last week, the Chinese government made the latest and perhaps the most serious move yet to crack down on Hong Kong's semi-autonomy. It's just the late...

0 comments
History

Conspiracy

Episode Date: May 21, 2020

Since the beginning of the pandemic, conspiracy theories about the coronavirus have exploded. But conspiracy theories themselves are nothing new - in...

0 comments
History

The Mask

Episode Date: May 14, 2020

The N95 respirator has become one of the most coveted items in the world, especially by medical professionals. But how did this seemingly simple mask...

0 comments
History

Endless War

Episode Date: May 7, 2020

North Korea's famous for being a black box, one of the most secretive and authoritarian countries in the world. It has a nuclear stockpile. A history...

0 comments
History

Meltdown

Episode Date: April 30, 2020

In the early hours of March 28, 1979, a system malfunction began what would become the worst nuclear accident in American history. What ensued punctur...

0 comments
History

Aftermath

Episode Date: April 23, 2020

In 1927, the most destructive river flood in U.S. history inundated seven states, displaced more than half a million people for months, and caused abo...

0 comments
History

Buzzkill

Episode Date: April 16, 2020

In the whole of human history, no predator has killed more of us than the lowly mosquito. And this killing spree, which we still struggle in vain to s...

0 comments
History

A Race To Know

Episode Date: April 2, 2020

For nearly as long as there has been a United States there has been a census, it is in some ways how we know ourselves. And in every single census the...