How baseball got its beat
Major League Baseball’s postseason is just a few weeks away, and here on Throughline we know the power of a good walk-up song. But how did b...
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Society & Culture
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 momen...
Episodes
20 of 462 episodes
Is it time for a Luddite Renaissance?
Calling someone a "Luddite" is usually an insult – shorthand for someone who is behind the times. But the real Luddites weren't just afraid...
Why American public schools are still broken
In 1966, the federal government commissioned a massive survey aimed at solving educational inequality. Instead, the explosive Coleman Report...
The SAT's 100-year grip on higher ed
For generations, the SAT has loomed large in the lives of teenagers. The quest for a perfect or near-perfect score has filled many test take...
The pillage that fueled America's tech booms
Cobalt mining is one of the world's most dangerous jobs. And it's also one of the most essential: cobalt is what powers the batteries in you...
How Korean culture went global
This year, K-pop Demon Hunters picked up a couple of Oscars, the pop group BTS made its triumphant return to sold out crowds, and K-pop took...
The blatant betrayal that erased the Tupperware queen from history
Brownie Wise revolutionized how we store our food. She was one of the first female corporate executives in U.S. history. But she’s not a hou...
Lies, theft, and cover-up: the history of Monopoly you've never heard
Monopoly is one of the best-selling board games of all time. It heralds free market economics and celebrates the American dream. That's a fa...
The song that fueled protests and a legacy of hope
In our final installment of AP250, how We Shall Overcome became the anthem of generations of protestors. Today on the show, we revisit an ep...
The lightbulb conspiracy is both real and everywhere
Over the next few episodes, we present Hidden Histories : stories that will make you rethink how the world works. First up, the conspiracy b...
The license to be funny in America
One of the most fundamental aspects of American democracy has been the public’s ability to critique power, whether that’s through protest, l...
The architect of modern China
From impoverishment to global superpower, China’s supremacy happened at a breakneck speed thanks to the visionary strategy of the man who to...
The Chinafication of Walmart
We think of Walmart as ultra-American, but its business relationship with China has fundamentally changed how American retail operates. In t...
Listen to "We Keep Us Safe" on NPR's Embedded podcast
In the summer of 2020, teenager Antonio Mays Jr. traveled a thousand miles to join a racial justice movement after the killing of George Flo...
Route 66 and the quest to connect America
Route 66 turns 100 this year. It's considered America’s most nostalgic road trip. With wide open road, sunsets that fill the whole sky, dirt...
How wheelchairs, a river, and a spaceship challenged the status quo
Stories of resistance from three places: Denver, Colorado where the Gang of 19 put their bodies on the line for the right to use public tran...
The ongoing battle over asylum in America
The U.S. has long professed to be a country where people can seek refuge. That's the promise etched into the base of the Statue of Liberty....
American history through song
There are many ways to look at and understand American history. In this series, we’ve shared stories about how this country was founded and...
The story of July 4th is messier than you remember
Devastating compromises. Midnight rides. A nailbiter vote. Statue toppling riots… and the very real possibility of death. This July 4th, we'...
The genius and murkiness of the Constitution
What does the Constitution mean to me? That’s a question writer and actor Heidi Schreck asked herself years ago, when she started working on...