
Throughline
NPR - npr.org
Latest episode: Thu Dec 11 2025
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
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
389 total episodes
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Dec11Pride, Prejudice, and Peer Pressure52mins
Dec4The Bitter History of Chocolate52mins
Nov27The Mother of Thanksgiving50mins
Nov25What Happened to Vladimir Alexandrov?14mins
Nov20Democracy Dies in a Day51mins
Nov13The Creeping Coup50mins
Nov6Winter is Coming52mins
Oct30Prosecuting Genocide50mins
Oct29Throughline Dances29mins
Oct23The Internet Under the Sea50mins
Oct16The Rise of the Right Wing in Israel51mins
Oct9A History of Hamas50mins
Oct2From the Frontlines51mins
Sep30Throughline Sleeps30mins
Sep25The Anti-Vaccine Movement49mins
Sep18The Business of Migrant Detention50mins
Sep11Line. Fence. Wall.49mins
Sep4ICE49mins
Aug28A History of Settlements53mins
Aug26A Primer On The Federal Reserve's Independence20mins
Aug21The Queen of Tupperware49mins
Aug14We the People: Succession of Power47mins
Aug7We the People: Cruel and Unusual Punishment47mins
Jul31We the People: The Right to Remain Silent49mins
Jul29Embedded: The Network40mins
Jul24We The People: Canary in the Coal Mine47mins
Jul18Congress has voted to eliminate government funding for public media2mins
Jul17Edward Said and the Question of Palestine50mins
Jul10What Makes Us Free?49mins
Jul3Does America Need a Hero?51mins
Jun29Iran and the U.S., Part Three: Soleimani's Iran45mins
Jun28Iran and the U.S., Part Two: Rules of Engagement46mins
Jun26What the Supreme Court Does in the Shadows48mins
Jun24Iran and the U.S., Part One: Four Days in August36mins
Jun19Abortion Before Roe51mins
Jun12The First Department of Education48mins
Jun5The Woman Behind The New Deal48mins
May29We the People: Search and Seizure48mins
May22War Crimes51mins
May15The Tax Collector51mins
May8California's 'Bum Blockade'51mins
May1Motherhood50mins
Apr24The Deadly Story of the U.S. Civil Service49mins
Apr17The Alien Enemies Act49mins
Apr10When Things Fall Apart49mins
Apr3Get Rich Quick: The American Lottery49mins
Mar27We the People: The Right to Remain Silent48mins
Mar20Sesame Street48mins
Mar13Winter is Coming51mins
Mar6We the People: Succession of Power47mins
Feb27Health Insurance in America52mins
Feb20The Evolution of Presidential Power51mins
Feb13The Anti-Vaccine Movement48mins
Feb6The History of Birthright Citizenship57mins
Jan30The Kingdom Behind Glass48mins
Jan23We The People: Cruel and Unusual Punishment47mins
Jan16Ralph Nader, Consumer Crusader (Throwback)46mins
Jan9History of the Self: Dreams49mins
Jan2History of the Self: Aging49mins
Dec26History of the Self: Love53mins
Dec24Embedded: The Black Gate27mins
Dec19History of the Self: Smell and Memory51mins
Dec16Going to the Source of L.A.'s Water26mins
Dec12When Christmas Went Viral49mins
Dec5Seeking Asylum in the U.S.52mins
Nov28The Lord Of Misrule (Throwback)49mins
Nov21The Mother of Thanksgiving50mins
Nov14Behind the Scenes of Throughline51mins
Nov7The Electoral College (Throwback)47mins
Oct31A History of Settlements54mins
Oct24The Swing State Power Brokers50mins
Oct17How We Vote (Throwback)54mins
Oct10A History of Christian Nationalism51mins
Oct3The Battle For Jerusalem50mins
Sep26A History of Hezbollah (Throwback)49mins
Sep19When Things Fall Apart (Throwback)49mins
Sep12The Conspiracy Files55mins
Sep5How U.S. Unions Took Flight (Throwback)46mins
Aug29Water in the West50mins
Aug22We The People: Canary in the Coal Mine46mins
Aug15We The People: Equal Protection49mins
Aug8We The People: Legal Representation49mins
Aug6Tested: Questions of a Physical Nature35mins
Aug1We the People: Gun Rights48mins
Jul25We The People: Free Speech48mins
Jul18The Creeping Coup50mins
Jul11The Roots of Poverty in America49mins
Jul4Road to Rickwood: The Holy Grail of Baseball57mins
Jun27Pop Music's First Black Stars49mins
Jun20The Lavender Scare (Throwback)51mins
Jun13A History of Zionism51mins
Jun6The Whiteness Myth (Throwback)49mins
May30The Rules of War51mins
May23Mythos and Melodrama in the Philippines (Throwback)51mins
May16The Mandela Effect54mins
May9The Labor Of Love (Throwback)51mins
May2We the People: Search and Seizure48mins
Apr25The Ghost in Your Phone (Throwback)51mins
Apr18Ralph Nader, Consumer Crusader47mins
Apr11The 14th Amendment49mins
Apr4The Land of the Fee (Throwback)45mins
Mar28A History of Hezbollah49mins
Mar21The Great Textbook War47mins
Mar19Radiolab: Worst. Year. Ever38mins
Mar14A Symphony of Resistance (Throwback)55mins
Mar7The Rise of the Right Wing in Israel53mins
Feb29The Right to An Attorney50mins
Feb22Dance Yourself Free (Throwback)50mins
Feb15Love, Throughline53mins
Feb8The Scent of History51mins
Feb1James Baldwin's Shadow (Throwback)44mins
Jan30Bonus: The Empty Grave of Comrade Bishop49mins
Jan25The Man Who Cured Aging49mins
Jan18The Right to Bear Arms51mins
Jan11When Things Fall Apart (Throwback)49mins
Jan4The Nostalgia Bone (2021)56mins
Dec28Editing Reality (2023)52mins
Dec21Apology: The Way Back (2023)52mins
Dec14Dare to Dissent50mins
Dec7The Lord Of Misrule49mins
Nov30A.D.A. Now! (2020)58mins
Nov23How U.S. Unions Took Flight47mins
Nov16A History of Hamas51mins
Nov9Grenada: Nobody's Backyard (2021)57mins
Nov2The Supreme Court's Shadow Docket49mins
Oct26The Three Faces of Ataturk53mins
Oct19The Dance of the Dead (2021)50mins
Oct12The Contradictions of Abraham Lincoln49mins
Oct5Two Miles Down The Road55mins
Sep28Tenochtitlán: A Retelling of the Conquest (2021)52mins
Sep21David v Goliath51mins
Sep14A Tale of Two Tribal Nations51mins
Sep7Silicon Island (2022)48mins
Aug31How Korean Culture Went Global (2022)48mins
Aug24By Accident of Birth (2022)58mins
Aug17The Characters That Built China (2022)49mins
Aug10The Lavender Scare51mins
Aug3Getting to Sesame Street (2022)49mins
Jul27The Hidden War52mins
Jul20All Wars Are Fought Twice (2022)47mins
Jul13No Bad Ideas?51mins
Jul6The Legacy of Henry Kissinger49mins
Jun29After Roe: A New Battlefield (2022)52mins
Jun22The Labor Of Love52mins
Jun15Affirmative Action49mins
Jun8Before Roe: The Physicians' Crusade (2022)52mins
Jun1The Ghost in Your Phone52mins
May25The Freedom of Speech49mins
May18History Is Over (2021)50mins
May11Mythos and Melodrama in the Philippines52mins
May4What's Your Worth?49mins
Apr27Cinco de Mayo and the Rise of Modern Mexico (2022)50mins
Apr20The Way Back52mins
Apr13Past is Prologue: Talking Taxes50mins
Apr6Student Loans: The Fund-Eating Dragon (2022)50mins
Apr4Throughline Presents: Louder Than A Riot56mins
Mar30The Mystery of Inflation (2022)49mins
Mar23Everyone Everywhere All At Once49mins
Mar16Meltdown (2020)51mins
Mar9A More Perfect Human52mins
Mar2Dance Yourself Free50mins
Feb23Of Rats and Men (2022)51mins
Feb16Throughline Presents: White Lies46mins
Feb9The Whiteness Myth50mins
Feb2The Real Black Panthers (2021)51mins
Jan26When Things Fall Apart50mins
Jan19Extremist Futures48mins
Jan12Do Not Pass Go (2022)50mins
Jan9Nancy Pelosi (2019)23mins
Jan5The Monster of We (2021)58mins
Dec29The New Gilded Age (2022)50mins
Dec22God Wants You To Be Rich (2021)48mins
Dec15Road to Partition52mins
Dec8400 Years of Sweetness52mins
Dec1The Nostalgia Bone (2021)56mins
Nov26La Última Copa: El sueño del pibe41mins
Nov24The Last Cup: The Kid's Dream41mins
Nov17Qatar's World Cup51mins
Nov10Dreams, Creatures, and Visions48mins
Nov3The Most Sacred Right (2020)62mins
Oct27The State of Disunion48mins
Oct20The Woman Question49mins
Oct13The Dance of the Dead (2021)49mins
Oct6Silicon Island46mins
Sep29Editing Reality51mins
Sep22Five Fingers Crush the Land (2021)55mins
Sep15Getting to Sesame Street49mins
Sep8How Korean Culture Went Global47mins
Sep1American Socialist (2020)61mins
Aug25Drone Wars (2021)60mins
Aug18Afghanistan: The Rise of the Taliban (2021)54mins
Aug11Afghanistan: The Center of the World (2021)55mins
Aug4The Mystery of Inflation49mins
Jul28Nikole Hannah-Jones and the Country We Have (2021)49mins
Jul21Student Loans: The Fund-Eating Dragon50mins
Jul14The Long Hot Summer (2020)41mins
Jul7Throughline Presents: School Colors51mins
Jun30Do Not Pass Go50mins
Jun23The Evangelical Vote (2019)50mins
Jun16After Roe: A New Battlefield52mins
Jun9By Accident of Birth58mins
Jun2The Modern White Power Movement (2020)47mins
May26The Characters That Built China48mins
May19Before Roe: The Physicians' Crusade52mins
May17Bonus: The Forgotten Mothers of Civil Rights History49mins
May12The Shadows of the Constitution (2020)42mins
May5Cinco de Mayo and the Rise of Modern Mexico50mins
Apr28The New Gilded Age49mins
Apr21Force of Nature (2021)48mins
Apr14The Everlasting Problem (2020)54mins
Apr7Capitalism: What Makes Us Free? (2021)50mins
Mar31The Land of the Fee (2021)44mins
Mar24All Wars Are Fought Twice48mins
Mar17Our Own People (2021)51mins
Mar10Ukraine's Dangerous Independence43mins
Mar3Of Rats and Men51mins
Feb24There Are No Utopias49mins
Feb17Marcus Garvey: Pan-Africanist (2021)59mins
Feb10Pirates of the Senate52mins
Feb3A Story Of Us?46mins
Jan27Russia's Longest Leader: Vladimir Putin (2019)33mins
Jan25Throughline Sleeps30mins
Jan20The Way We Dream51mins
Jan13Bayard Rustin: The Man Behind the March on Washington (2021)70mins
Jan6The Anatomy of Autocracy: Timothy Snyder (2021)34mins
Dec30The Electrical Grid (2020)42mins
Dec28Bonus: On Our Watch47mins
Dec23American Socialist (2020)64mins
Dec16The Monster of We60mins
Dec9History Is Over53mins
Dec2A Symphony of Resistance (2021)57mins
Nov25Fighting Fires and Family Secrets40mins
Nov18Nikole Hannah-Jones and the Country We Have50mins
Nov11Aftermath (2020)54mins
Nov9Bonus: The Deep History of Dune44mins
Nov4Drone Wars61mins
Oct28The Dance of the Dead50mins
Oct21The Stars (2020)57mins
Oct14The Nostalgia Bone57mins
Oct7Tenochtitlan: A Retelling of The Conquest52mins
Oct5Bonus: Soul Train34mins
Sep30The Shadows of the Constitution (2020)43mins
Sep28Bonus: We're Not Broken23mins
Sep23The Supreme Court (2020)58mins
Sep16Afghanistan: The Rise of the Taliban53mins
Sep9Afghanistan: The Center of the World54mins
Sep2The Aftermath of Collapse: Bronze Age Edition (2021)55mins
Aug26Octavia Butler: Visionary Fiction (2021)65mins
Aug19El Libertador and Venezuela's Rise and Fall (2019)54mins
Aug12Lives of the Great Depression (2020)47mins
Aug5Stories of How We Cope With Chaos (2021)63mins
Jul29Grenada: Nobody's Backyard58mins
Jul22Olympics: Behind The Five Rings41mins
Jul20Home/Front: Marla's War35mins
Jul15The Most Sacred Right (2020)62mins
Jul12Bonus: Do The Golden Arches Bend Toward Justice?28mins
Jul8Capitalism: God Wants You To Be Rich50mins
Jul1Capitalism: What Makes Us Free?52mins
Jun29Bonus: The Vanishing of Harry Pace73mins
Jun24Capitalism: What Is It?56mins
Jun17Before Stonewall (2019)40mins
Jun10Who is NPR (For)?36mins
Jun3The Supreme Court58mins
May28Palestine54mins
May20A Symphony of Resistance56mins
May13Five Fingers Crush The Land56mins
May6Operation Nemesis51mins
Apr29James Baldwin's Shadow44mins
Apr22Force of Nature50mins
Apr15The Real Black Panthers56mins
Apr8Policing in America65mins
Apr1Our Own People52mins
Mar25The Land of the Fee49mins
Mar18Chaos62mins
Mar11N9540mins
Mar4Levittown: Where the Good Life Begins44mins
Feb25Bayard Rustin: The Man Behind the March on Washington69mins
Feb18Octavia Butler: Visionary Fiction66mins
Feb11Marcus Garvey: Pan-Africanist63mins
Feb7The Lasting Power Of Whitney Houston's National Anthem23mins
Feb4What Happened After Civilization Collapsed56mins
Jan28The Anatomy Of Autocracy: Masha Gessen43mins
Jan21The Anatomy of Autocracy: Timothy Snyder38mins
Jan14Impeachment19mins
Jan7Outside/In: Everybody Knows Somebody57mins
Dec31Outside/In: War of the Worlds37mins
Dec24Outside/In: The Dark Side Of The Moon41mins
Dec17Outside/In: Rules of Engagement51mins
Dec10Supreme60mins
Dec3The Modern White Power Movement49mins
Nov26The Spotted Owl33mins
Nov19The Invention of Race40mins
Nov16BONUS: Louder Than A Riot49mins
Nov12The Shadows of the Constitution44mins
Nov5Bush v. Gore and Why It Matters in 202029mins
Oct29The Most Sacred Right63mins
Oct22How We Vote58mins
Oct15The Electoral College57mins
Oct8(mis)Representative Democracy, A New Series From Throughline1min
Oct8The United States vs. Billie Holiday33mins
Oct1The Everlasting Problem54mins
Sep24The Evangelical Vote62mins
Sep17James Baldwin's Fire45mins
Sep10The Postal Service28mins
Sep3Reframing History: Mass Incarceration48mins
Aug27Reframing History: Bananas56mins
Aug20Reframing History: The Commentator30mins
Aug13Reframing History: The Litter Myth32mins
Aug6America's Caste System40mins
Jul30A.D.A. Now!61mins
Jul23Lives Of The Great Depression46mins
Jul16Borinquén65mins
Jul9The Long Hot Summer41mins
Jul2Mecca Under Siege43mins
Jun25There's Something About Mary40mins
Jun18Why 2020 Isn't Quite 196827mins
Jun11Presidential Power51mins
Jun4American Police62mins
May28Hong Kong43mins
May21Conspiracy41mins
May14The Mask39mins
May7Endless War34mins
Apr30Meltdown53mins
Apr23Aftermath53mins
Apr16Buzzkill33mins
Apr9Throughline Presents: Code Switch30mins
Apr2A Race To Know40mins
Mar261918 Flu37mins
Mar19American Socialist61mins
Mar12Savarkar And India31mins
Mar5Public Universal Friend46mins
Feb27The Invisible Border31mins
Feb20The Stars57mins
Feb13Becoming America31mins
Feb6She Got Next60mins
Jan30Vaccination21mins
Jan23Soleimani's Iran46mins
Jan16Everybody Knows Somebody57mins
Jan9There Will Be Bananas55mins
Jan2Fear of Technology35mins
Dec26Russia's Vladimir Putin34mins
Dec19Planned Obsolescence33mins
Dec12America's Opioid Epidemic44mins
Dec5The Electrical Grid42mins
Nov28Conspiracy Theories42mins
Nov21A Year Of Wonders39mins
Nov14The Siege of Mecca42mins
Nov9Throughline Presents: Short Wave25mins
Nov7No Friend But The Mountains42mins
Oct31ZOMBIES42mins
Oct24The Dark Side Of The Moon39mins
Oct17A Borrowed Time42mins
Oct10The Commentator29mins
Oct3High Crimes And Misdemeanors17mins
Sep26American Exile53mins
Sep19Puerto Rico64mins
Sep12Three Chords And The Truth31mins
Sep5The Litter Myth35mins
Aug29On The Shoulders Of Giants38mins
Aug22Strange Fruit30mins
Aug15Mass Incarceration47mins
Aug8Scorched Earth29mins
Aug1Huey Long Vs. The Media30mins
Jul25Milliken v. Bradley35mins
Jul18Rules Of Engagement48mins
Jul11Four Days In August36mins
Jul4American Anthem26mins
Jun27Before Stonewall38mins
Jun20The X On The Map39mins
Jun13Apocalypse Now54mins
Jun6Mitch McConnell32mins
May30Savarkar's India33mins
May23A Dream Of Modern China45mins
May16El Libertador54mins
May9White Nationalism33mins
May2Outbreak21mins
Apr25Resistance Is Futile35mins
Apr18War Of The Worlds33mins
Apr11Nancy Pelosi23mins
Apr4Opioids In America42mins
Mar28The Phoebus Cartel32mins
Mar21The Border14mins
Mar14The Moth32mins
Mar7American Shadows41mins
Feb28High Crimes And Misdemeanors15mins
Feb21The Forgotten War33mins
Feb14On the Shoulders of Giants37mins
Feb7Four Days in August36mins
Jan30Introducing Throughline2mins