Throughline
The past is never past. Every headline has a history. Join us every week as we go back in time to understand the present. These are stories you can feel and sounds you can see from the moments that shaped our world.
The Evolution of Presidential Power
What can and can't the president do — and how do we know? The framers of the U.S. Constitution left...
EscucharThe Anti-Vaccine Movement
The alleged link between vaccines and autism was first published in 1998, in a since-retracted study...
EscucharBirthright Citizenship
Wong Kim Ark was born in the U.S. and lived his whole life here. But when he returned from a trip to...
EscucharThe Kingdom Behind Glass
Who owns stolen art? Today on the show, the bloody journey of a Benin Bronze from West Africa to the...
EscucharWe The People: Cruel and Unusual Punishment
The Eighth Amendment. What is cruel and unusual punishment? Who gets to define and decide its boundaries?...
EscucharRalph Nader, Consumer Crusader (Throwback)
Whether it's pesticides in your cereal or the door plug flying off your airplane, consumers today have...
EscucharHistory of the Self: Dreams
Our dreams can haunt us. But what are we to make of them? From omens and art to modern science, we tell...
EscucharHistory of the Self: Aging
Defeating old age? In 1899, Elie Metchnikoff woke up in Paris to learn he had done just that. At least,...
EscucharHistory of the Self: Love
How did love – this thing that's supposed to be beautiful, magical, transformative – turn into a...
EscucharEmbedded: The Black Gate
In the Xinjiang region of western China, the government has rounded up and detained hundreds of thousands...
EscucharHistory of the Self: Smell and Memory
"History" can seem big and imposing. But it's always intensely personal – it's all of our individual...
EscucharGoing to the Source of L.A.'s Water
Throughline associate producer Anya Steinberg talks to supervising senior editor Julie Caine about her...
EscucharWhen Christmas Went Viral
Christmas wasn't always a national shopping spree — or even a day off work. But in 19th-century London,...
EscucharSeeking Asylum in the U.S.
The U.S. has long professed to be a country where people can seek refuge. That's the promise etched...
EscucharThe Lord Of Misrule (Throwback)
By the time his book went to press in London, on November 18, 1633, Thomas Morton had been exiled from...
EscucharThe Mother of Thanksgiving
The Thanksgiving story most of us hear is about friendship and unity. And that's what Sarah Josepha...
EscucharBehind the Scenes of Throughline
Today on the show, we're taking you behind the scenes. We'll tell you how Throughline was born, some...
EscucharThe Electoral College (Throwback)
What is it, why do we have it, and why hasn't it changed? Born from a rushed, fraught, imperfect process,...
EscucharA History of Settlements
The question of settlements has loomed over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades, and has only...
EscucharThe Swing State Power Brokers
Today on the show, two stories of building power in swing states: from the top down, and the bottom...
EscucharHow We Vote (Throwback)
Drunken brawls, coercion, and lace curtains: believe it or not, how regular people vote was not something...
EscucharA History of Christian Nationalism
References to God and Christianity are sprinkled throughout American life. Our money has "In God We...
EscucharThe Battle For Jerusalem
Today, the city of Jerusalem is seen as so important that people are willing to kill and die to control...
EscucharA History of Hezbollah (Throwback)
Hezbollah is a Lebanese paramilitary organization and political party that's directly supported by the...
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