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.
History 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...
EscucharWhen Things Fall Apart (Throwback)
Climate change, political unrest, random violence - Western society can often feel like what the filmmaker...
EscucharThe Conspiracy Files
9/11 was an inside job. Aliens have already made contact. COVID-19 was created in a lab.Maybe you rolled...
EscucharHow U.S. Unions Took Flight (Throwback)
Airline workers — pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, baggage handlers, and more — represent a...
EscucharWater in the West
What does it mean to do the greatest good for the greatest number? When the Los Angeles Aqueduct opened...
EscucharWe The People: Canary in the Coal Mine
The Third Amendment. Maybe you've heard it as part of a punchline. It's the one about quartering troops...
EscucharWe The People: Equal Protection
The Fourteenth Amendment. Of all the amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the 14th is a big one. It's...
EscucharWe The People: Legal Representation
The Sixth Amendment. Most of us take it for granted that if we're ever in court and we can't afford...
EscucharTested: Questions of a Physical Nature
In 1966, the governing body of the Olympic track and field event started mandatory examinations of all...
EscucharWe the People: Gun Rights
The Second Amendment. In April 1938, an Oklahoma bank robber was arrested for carrying an unregistered...
EscucharWe The People: Free Speech
The First Amendment. Book bans, disinformation, the wild world of the internet. Free speech debates...
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