Podcast · 106 episodes
Throughline
by NPR · English
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 journalist Rund Abdelfatah. Support public media by joining NPR+ at plus.npr.org. You’ll get perks for over 25 NPR podcasts, including sponsor-free listening for Throughline.
Latest episodes
Forty years of what ifThe 40th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, focusing on Morton Thiokol engineer Brian Russell’s warnings about cold weather and the solid rocket booster O-rings, the internal…29 Sep 2026 · 21 min
Democratic Socialism. Hope or Hopeless?The episode traces how “democratic socialism” moved from Bernie Sanders’ 2015 phrase back through the life of Michael Harrington, founder of the modern U.S.24 Sep 2026 · 50 min
How two swing states changed American votingThe episode argues that modern efforts to control elections were seeded by earlier strategies to challenge voters and by grassroots political organizing.17 Sep 2026 · 50 min
All episodes
Forty years of what ifThe 40th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, focusing on Morton Thiokol engineer Brian Russell’s warnings about cold weather and the solid rocket booster O-rings, the internal…29 Sep 2026 · 21 min · 8 chapters
Democratic Socialism. Hope or Hopeless?The episode traces how “democratic socialism” moved from Bernie Sanders’ 2015 phrase back through the life of Michael Harrington, founder of the modern U.S.24 Sep 2026 · 50 min · 13 chapters
How two swing states changed American votingThe episode argues that modern efforts to control elections were seeded by earlier strategies to challenge voters and by grassroots political organizing.17 Sep 2026 · 50 min · 17 chapters
How baseball got its beatThe episode explores how music became embedded in baseball—starting with patriotic anthems and evolving into stadium singalongs and modern walk-up songs.10 Sep 2026 · 32 min · 11 chapters
Is it time for a Luddite Renaissance?The episode connects today’s AI anxiety and “new Luddites” to the original 1810s Luddite movement, arguing Luddites were a labor protest defending skilled workers’ agency rather than simple…8 Sep 2026 · 17 min · 9 chapters
The school report that changed public educationThe episode traces how the 1960s Coleman Report (Equality of Educational Opportunity) investigated racial inequality in U.S.3 Sep 2026 · 37 min · 12 chapters
The SAT's 100-year grip on higher edHow the SAT became a century-long gatekeeper for U.S. higher education, tracing its origins, spread, and ongoing controversies (bias, equity, and test-optional policies).1 Sep 2026 · 19 min · 5 chapters
The pillage that fueled America's tech boomsThe episode traces how Congo’s forced labor and resource extraction—from King Leopold II’s rubber regime to Cold War resource politics and today’s cobalt mining—helped fuel global tech booms,…27 Aug 2026 · 52 min · 19 chapters
How Korean culture went globalHow South Korea’s “Hallyu” (Korean wave) became global pop culture, tying K-pop, K-dramas, beauty trends, and films to earlier history: war trauma, Japanese and U.S.20 Aug 2026 · 48 min · 12 chapters
The blatant betrayal that erased the Tupperware queen from historyThe rise and erasure of Brownie Wise, the “Tupperware queen” who built Tupperware’s home-party empire, then was pushed out after conflicts with inventor Earl Tupper and corporate executives.13 Aug 2026 · 49 min · 13 chapters
Lies, theft, and cover-up: the history of Monopoly you've never heardThe episode traces Monopoly’s “invented during the Great Depression” origin myth, arguing the game was built from earlier anti-monopoly and single-tax ideas, then reshaped and marketed through fraud…6 Aug 2026 · 50 min · 20 chapters
The song that fueled protests and a legacy of hopeThe history and transformation of “We Shall Overcome,” from work song to civil-rights anthem, and how its message of hope spread globally through protests and major speeches.4 Aug 2026 · 19 min · 8 chapters
The lightbulb conspiracy is both real and everywherePlanned obsolescence and how it evolved from a documented lightbulb cartel to “psychological obsolescence” that drives consumers to want upgrades.30 Jul 2026 · 32 min · 12 chapters
The license to be funny in AmericaThis episode of America in Pursuit argues that American humor is protected by the First Amendment and has repeatedly been used to challenge power.28 Jul 2026 · 20 min · 8 chapters
The architect of modern ChinaHow Deng Xiaoping’s reforms opened China to the world and turned it into the “world’s factory,” using Shenzhen and Special Economic Zones as the key experiment; the episode contrasts Mao-era chaos…23 Jul 2026 · 38 min · 13 chapters
The Chinafication of WalmartHow Walmart’s “Chinafication” reshaped American retail by outsourcing manufacturing to China, making Walmart the single largest U.S.21 Jul 2026 · 17 min · 6 chapters
Listen to "We Keep Us Safe" on NPR's Embedded podcastNPR Embedded’s true-crime investigation into Seattle’s CHOP/Capitol Hill Organized Protest zone in 2020—how a police-free community meant to protect Black life after a police precinct abandonment…19 Jul 2026 · 3 min · 1 chapter
Route 66 and the quest to connect AmericaHow Route 66 became “the main street of America,” tracing its origins from bad roads and the Good Roads movement to Cy Avery’s lobbying, the 1926 national highway numbering, and the promotional…16 Jul 2026 · 50 min · 15 chapters
How wheelchairs, a river, and a spaceship challenged the status quoCivil disobedience and resistance in U.S. history—how disabled activists forced accessible public transit in Denver, how Black spirituals and river metaphors shape civil-rights memory in Montgomery,…14 Jul 2026 · 20 min · 9 chapters
The ongoing battle over asylum in AmericaThe evolution of the U.S. asylum system, why it’s politically contested, how it works today, and how recent Supreme Court rulings (June 2026) could further restrict asylum access—especially for…9 Jul 2026 · 54 min · 23 chapters
American history through songUsing three American songs to trace themes in U.S. history—grace and abolition (Amazing Grace), early American pluralism and freedom (My Days Have Been So Wondrous Free), and joy amid catastrophe…7 Jul 2026 · 22 min · 5 chapters
The story of July 4th is messier than you rememberThe episode uses the Declaration of Independence to argue that July 4th was a messy, contested turning point rather than a clean founding myth.2 Jul 2026 · 34 min · 16 chapters
The genius and murkiness of the ConstitutionHeidi Schreck’s play What the Constitution Means to Me and how the U.S. Constitution’s “genius” and “murkiness” shape protection and failure, especially for women and abused people.30 Jun 2026 · 21 min · 6 chapters
From Hormuz to Suez: the chokepoints of global powerThe episode explains how three chokepoints—Suez Canal, Strait of Hormuz, and Bab al-Mandeb—have repeatedly reshaped global power by enabling leverage, disruption, and hostage-taking.25 Jun 2026 · 51 min · 14 chapters