Accessibility links
Anya Steinberg Anya Steinberg is a Producer for Throughline. She joined the show in 2021 as an intern. Since then, she’s reported and produced dozens of episodes. Some of her favorites to work on have been: the 400 year history of sugar, a profile of Nelson Mandela, and the story of the water wars between Los Angeles and the Owens Valley.
Stories By

Anya Steinberg

Monday

A Chinese student Americanized her name to fit in. It took more to feel she belonged

Four years into her life in the U.S., Aria Young has realized she wants more balance between the two halves of herself — Yáng Qìn Yuè of Shanghai and Aria Young of New York City. Mohamed Sadek for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Mohamed Sadek for NPR

Student Podcast Challenge

A Chinese student Americanized her name to fit in. It took more to feel she belonged

When Aria Young moved to the U.S., she adopted an Americanized name. Now, she's wondering how to hold on to the version of herself she left in China.

A Chinese student Americanized her name to fit in. It took more to feel she belonged

Listen · 4:26
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1091407334/1091980669" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Monday

Community college enrollment is down, but skilled-trades programs are booming

Students in the construction program at Texas State Technical College in Waco. Elissa Nadworny/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Elissa Nadworny/NPR

Education

Community college enrollment is down, but skilled-trades programs are booming

Enrollment in two-year colleges has dropped nationwide by about 750,000 students. But degree programs in construction trades are booming.

Community college enrollment is down, but skilled-trades programs are booming

Listen · 4:22
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1086454046/1242244984" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Saturday

Saturday

Lawmakers want to ban discomfort in school. But Black history isn't always comfortable
Therrious Davis for NPR

Black History Month 2022

Lawmakers want to ban discomfort in school. But Black history isn't always comfortable

Scores of state bills aim to limit what schools can teach about race, politics, American history and more. For some educators, that's made teaching about Black History Month especially fraught.

Lawmakers want to ban discomfort in school. But Black history isn't always comfortable

Listen · 4:37
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1081987384/1081987385" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Sunday

How colleges are dealing with high COVID case counts on campus
Anke Gladnick for NPR

Education

How colleges are dealing with high COVID case counts on campus

Despite the omicron surge, college students are starting the spring semester on campus – and administrators are bracing for the worst.

How colleges are dealing with high COVID case counts on campus

Listen · 4:24
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1072730869/1074892016" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Tuesday

Presenting 'Throughline': Nikole Hannah-Jones and the war over history

Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator and author of the 1619 Project. The New York Times hide caption

toggle caption
The New York Times

It's Been a Minute

Presenting 'Throughline': Nikole Hannah-Jones and the war over history

In this special episode from our friends at Throughline, co-hosts Rund Abdelfatah and Ramtin Arablouei explore the war over history with Nikole Hannah-Jones, an investigative journalist at The New York Times and the creator of the 1619 Project. They discuss how the 1619 Project became one of the most dramatic battlegrounds in the fight over our country's historical narratives — and whether an agreed upon history could ever exist.

Presenting 'Throughline': Nikole Hannah-Jones and the war over history

Listen · 49:01
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1062056574/1199267364" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Thursday

The Monster of We

Ayn Rand, Russian-born American novelist, is shown in Manhattan with the Grand Central Terminal building in background in 1962. ASSOCIATED PRESS hide caption

toggle caption
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Throughline

The Monster of We

Are most modern problems caused by selfishness or a lack of it? Ayn Rand, a Russian American philosopher and writer, would say it's the latter — that selfishness is not a vice but a virtue — and that capitalism is the ideal system. Everyone from Donald Trump to Alan Greenspan to Brad Pitt have sung Ayn Rand's praises. The Library of Congress named her novel, Atlas Shrugged, the second most influential book in the U.S. after the Bible. Ayn Rand wasn't politically correct, she was belligerent and liked going against the grain. And although she lived by the doctrine of her own greatness, she was driven by the fear that she would never be good enough.

The Monster of We

Listen · 1:00:17
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1064517537/1200556584" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

History Is Over

Thom Yorke, the singer of the British band Radiohead performs on the stage of the "Rock en Seine" music festival in 2006. STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images

Throughline

History Is Over

As the end of the 20th century approached, Radiohead took to the recording studio to capture the sound of a society that felt like it was fraying at the edges. Many people had high hopes for the new millennium, but for others a low hum of anxiety lurked just beneath the surface as the world changed rapidly and fears of a Y2K meltdown loomed.

History Is Over

Listen · 53:00
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1062499423/1200556588" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

Fighting Fires and Family Secrets
Eskay Lim / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm

Throughline

Fighting Fires and Family Secrets

Uncontrollable western wildfires and a hidden family history — two puzzles that can only be solved with knowledge buried in the past. Indigenous people in Montana fight fire with fire, drawing on the unique relationships their ancestors had to one of the West's greatest threats today. And a young woman grapples with the secret that binds her family together, but also tears them apart. This week, we bring you stories produced by two members of the Throughline team: Victor Yvellez and Anya Steinberg. Through their past work before joining the show, we'll travel from the homelands of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes to the freezers of a cryobank to answer questions about family, tradition, and the future.

Fighting Fires and Family Secrets

Listen · 40:35
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1058638328/1200556596" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

Nikole Hannah-Jones and the Country We Have

A painting by artist Sidney King depicting a Dutch ship with 20 enslaved African people arriving at Point Comfort, VA in 1619, marking the beginning of slavery in America. Sidney King/Associated Press hide caption

toggle caption
Sidney King/Associated Press

Throughline

Nikole Hannah-Jones and the Country We Have

Is history always political? Who gets to decide? What happens when you challenge common narratives? In this episode, Throughline's Rund Abdelfatah and Ramtin Arablouei explore these questions with Nikole Hannah-Jones, an investigative journalist at the New York Times and the creator of the 1619 Project, which is set to be released as a book later this year.

Nikole Hannah-Jones and the Country We Have

Listen · 50:11
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1056618320/1200556600" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

Presenting 'Throughline': The Nostalgia Bone
Hokyoung Kim

It's Been a Minute

Presenting 'Throughline': The Nostalgia Bone

The global pandemic has spawned a different type of epidemic, one of an entirely different nature: a nostalgia outbreak. Longing for 'simpler times' and 'better days', many of us have been turning to 90s dance playlists, TV sitcoms, and sports highlights. We're looking for comfort and safety in the permanence of the past, or at least, what we think the past was. But, when it first appeared, nostalgia itself wasn't considered a feeling; it was a deadly disease. In this episode from our friends at NPR's Throughline podcast, Laine Kaplan-Levenson traces the history of nostalgia from its origins as an illness to the dominating emotion of our time.

Presenting 'Throughline': The Nostalgia Bone

Listen · 56:47
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1051129836/1199267428" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Bonus: The Deep History of Dune
Ian West/PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images

Throughline

Bonus: The Deep History of Dune

Rund and Ramtin speak to sci-fi writer and Princeton historian, Haris Durrani, about why the lore of Dune still proves so relevant and the ways in which the 2021 film succeeds and fails to convey its messages.

Bonus: The Deep History of Dune

Listen · 44:10
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1053621261/1200556608" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

Drone Wars
Hokyoung Kim

Throughline

Drone Wars

Unseen, they stalk their targets from thousands of feet in the air. Operators are piloting them from military bases halfway across the world. At any moment, they could launch a strike that comes without warning. The attack drone was supposed to be a symbol of the era of precision warfare — a way to wage wars with fewer casualties on both sides. It's a technology that's been honed since it was first dreamed up during World War 1. But are drones actually precise enough? Do drones desensitize us to the casualties of civilians caught between us and our enemies? In this episode, we will explore the past, present and future of drone warfare.

Drone Wars

Listen · 1:01:16
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1051947725/1200556612" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

The Dance of the Dead
Hokyoung Kim

Throughline

The Dance of the Dead

Halloween — the night of ghost stories and trick-or-treating — has religious origins that span over two thousand years and over time, the Catholic Church, pagan groups, and even the brewing company Coors have played a role in shape-shifting the holiday. How did Halloween turn from a spiritual celebration to a multi-billion dollar industry? From the Great Famine of Ireland to the Simpsons, we present the many evolutions of Halloween.

The Dance of the Dead

Listen · 50:47
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1049379072/1200556616" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

The Stars (2020)

The Constellation of Taurus the Bull and Orion by James Thornhill. Historical Picture Archive/Corbis via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Historical Picture Archive/Corbis via Getty Images

Throughline

The Stars (2020)

Astrology has existed for thousands of years and has roots that span the globe. But is it a science or a religion or just a kind of personality test? And why is it more popular than ever? This week, the story of how finding our fates in the stars moved from the fringes to the mainstream and became a multi-billion dollar industry.

The Stars (2020)

Listen · 57:48
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1047392895/1200556620" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">