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...
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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...
Throughline Podcast Guide
Listen to Throughline, a Society & Culture podcast by NPR. Stream 454 episodes in English, follow new audio stories, and play episodes online on Radio and Podcast.
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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...
From Hormuz to Suez: the chokepoints of global power
Oil may dominate the headlines about the Middle East, but the real power often flows through water. Three narrow passages - the Suez Canal,...
Prosperity gospel and the American dream
A lot of our everyday lives are shaped by the idea that if we really believe in something, it will happen. But where does that idea come fro...
How the Supreme Court claimed supreme power
The Supreme Court's 2025-26 term has been punctuated with some high-stakes cases: birthright citizenship, voting rights, presidential powers...
Captain America and the nation's conscience
What does it mean to be American? For one superhero, it means donning yourself in the colors of the American flag, sticking up for the littl...
The shifting line between free speech and a criminal threat
Threats against public officials have become much, much more common. This includes everyone from the president of the United States to membe...
The uncensored war
As the U.S. escalated its intervention in Vietnam in the 1960s, the media's coverage ramped up too. Soon, the war permeated the homes of mil...
The World Cup was supposed to bring world peace
World Cup tickets are going for as high as $45,000. Not in most of our budgets. How did things get so out of hand when the tournament's foun...
Bayard Rustin and the March on Washington
When people remember the March on Washington they often recall the giant crowds or Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech. Less kn...