Throughline

NPR 483 - The license to be funny in America

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.

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Throughline

Episodes

The license to be funny in America

The architect of modern China

The Chinafication of Walmart

Listen to "We Keep Us Safe" on NPR's Embedded podcast

Route 66 and the quest to connect America

How wheelchairs, a river, and a spaceship challenged the status quo

The ongoing battle over asylum in America

American history through song

The story of July 4th is messier than you remember

The genius and murkiness of the Constitution

From Hormuz to Suez: the chokepoints of global power

Prosperity gospel and the American dream

How the Supreme Court claimed supreme power

Captain America and the nation's conscience

The shifting line between free speech and a criminal threat

The uncensored war

The World Cup was supposed to bring world peace

Bayard Rustin and the March on Washington

History's playbook for taming the beast of inflation

Yuri Kochiyamas’s lifetime of activism

Prediction markets are making a 150-year comeback

Frances Perkins Goes To Washington

War by remote control, how drones changed modern warfare

Four voices from the Great Depression

How our memory of war can shape the future

The origins of the Socialist Party of America

Gladiators, real housewives and the pull of reality TV

The fight that shook America

The billionaires' utopia blueprint

Why the wall was built

The original clickbait king

How the US became America

Will AI destroy us... or save us?

Iran and the U.S., Part Three: Soleimani's Iran

Iran and the U.S., Part Two: Rules of Engagement

Who gets to be an American citizen?

Al Capone and the transformation of the IRS

What the banana tells us about US history

Get Rich Quick: The American Lottery

How U.S. Unions Took Flight

Affirmative Action

Getting to Sesame Street

Pirates of the Senate

Bayard Rustin: The Man Behind the March on Washington (2021)

The Dance of the Dead

Bonus: The Vanishing of Harry Pace

Palestine

Five Fingers Crush The Land

The Land of the Fee

The Evangelical Vote