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Ramtin Arablouei Ramtin Arablouei is co-host and co-producer of NPR's podcast Throughline.
Ramtin Arablouei, co-host and co-producer of Throughline.
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Ramtin Arablouei

Thursday

The Kingdom Behind Glass
KOLA SULAIMON/Getty Images

Throughline

The Kingdom Behind Glass

Who owns stolen art? Today on the show, the bloody journey of a Benin Bronze from West Africa to the halls of one of England's most elite universities — a tale of imperialism, betrayal, and the making of the modern world.

The Kingdom Behind Glass

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Thursday

We The People: Cruel and Unusual Punishment
Alexander Aksakov/Getty Images

Throughline

We The People: Cruel and Unusual Punishment

The Eighth Amendment. What is cruel and unusual punishment? Who gets to define and decide its boundaries? And how did the Constitution's authors imagine it might change? Today on Throughline's We the People: the Eighth Amendment, the death penalty, and what cruel and unusual really means.

We The People: Cruel and Unusual Punishment

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Thursday

Ralph Nader, Consumer Crusader (Throwback)
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Throughline

Ralph Nader, Consumer Crusader (Throwback)

Whether it's pesticides in your cereal or the door plug flying off your airplane, consumers today have plenty of reasons to feel like corporations might not have their best interests at heart. At a moment when the number of product recalls is high and trust in the government is low, we're going to revisit a time when a generation of people felt empowered to demand accountability from both companies and elected leaders — and got results. Today on the show, the story of the U.S. consumer movement and its controversial leader: the once famous, now infamous Ralph Nader.

Ralph Nader, Consumer Crusader (Throwback)

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Thursday

History of the Self: Dreams
AP Photo

Throughline

History 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 the story of dreams and the surprising role they may play in our lives. (Originally ran as The Way We Dream)

History of the Self: Dreams

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Thursday

History of the Self: Aging
New York Public Library

Throughline

History of the Self: Aging

Defeating old age? In 1899, Elie Metchnikoff woke up in Paris to learn he had done just that. At least, that's what the newspaper headlines said. Before long he was inundated with mail from people begging him to help them live forever. The only problem? He didn't know how to do it.

History of the Self: Aging

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Thursday

History of the Self: Love
WANG Zhao/Getty Images

Throughline

History of the Self: Love

How did love – this thing that's supposed to be beautiful, magical, transformative – turn into a neverending slog? We went searching for answers, and we found them in surprising places. On today's show: a time-hopping, philosophical journey into the origins of modern love. (This episode first ran as Love, Throughline)

History of the Self: Love

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Thursday

History of the Self: Smell and Memory
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Throughline

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 experiences that add up to historical events. Over the next few episodes, we're exploring the personal and how it's changed history: from the story of romantic love, to the man who tried to cure aging, to the contents of our dreams...

History of the Self: Smell and Memory

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Thursday

When Christmas Went Viral
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Throughline

When Christmas Went Viral

Christmas wasn't always a national shopping spree — or even a day off work. But in 19th-century London, it went viral. When Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol, the book's tale of miserly Scrooge and the ghosts that transformed him transformed the holiday too, especially in the U.S.

When Christmas Went Viral

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Thursday

Seeking Asylum in the U.S.
AP Photo/Jaques Langevin

Throughline

Seeking 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 into the base of the Statue of Liberty. But it's never been that clear-cut.

Seeking Asylum in the U.S.

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Thursday

The Lord Of Misrule (Throwback)

A 19th-century engraving of Cpt. Miles Standish and his men observing the 'immoral' behavior of the Maypole festivities of 1628 at Merrymount. ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images hide caption

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ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images

Throughline

The Lord Of Misrule (Throwback)

By the time his book went to press in London, on November 18, 1633, Thomas Morton had been exiled from the Puritan colonies in Massachusetts. His crimes: drinking, carousing, and — crucially — building social and economic ties with Native people. His book outlined a vision for what America could become. A very different vision than that of the Puritans.

The Lord Of Misrule (Throwback)

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Wednesday

History

The woman who pushed to make Thanksgiving a national holiday

When Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863, he was thinking about the Civil War. And so was the woman who had lobbied for Thanksgiving for years.

The woman who pushed to make Thanksgiving a national holiday

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Thursday

The Mother of Thanksgiving

Portrait of Sarah Josepha Hale painted by James Reid Lambdin, circa 1831. James Reid Lambdin/Wikimedia Commons hide caption

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James Reid Lambdin/Wikimedia Commons

Throughline

The Mother of Thanksgiving

The Thanksgiving story most of us hear is about friendship and unity. And that's what Sarah Josepha Hale had on her mind when she sat down to write a letter to President Lincoln in 1863, deep into the Civil War. Hale had already spent years campaigning for a national day of thanksgiving, using her platform as editor of one the country's most widely-read magazines and writing elected officials to argue that Americans urgently needed a national story. But she'd gotten nowhere – until now.

The Mother of Thanksgiving

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Thursday

Behind the Scenes of Throughline
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Throughline

Behind the Scenes of Throughline

Today on the show, we're taking you behind the scenes. We'll tell you how Throughline was born, some of what goes into making our episodes, and a little bit about how we make our special sauce — the Throughline rizz, as the kids say.

Behind the Scenes of Throughline

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Thursday

Throughline

The Electoral College (Throwback)

What is it, why do we have it, and why hasn't it changed? Born from a rushed, fraught, imperfect process, the origins and evolution of the Electoral College might surprise you and make you think differently about not only this upcoming presidential election, but our democracy as a whole.

The Electoral College (Throwback)

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Thursday

A History of Settlements
Ahmad Gharabli/Getty Images

Throughline

A History of Settlements

The question of settlements has loomed over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades, and has only intensified in the past year. According to a UN report, since October 7, 2023, there has been a record surge in settlement activities and increased settler violence against Palestinians. Today on the show: how the settlement movement grew from a small religious mission to one of the central tenets of the current Israeli government. It's a story that intersects with other topics we've covered in our series relating to this conflict – the history of Hamas, the rise of the Israeli right wing, Hezbollah, and Zionism.

A History of Settlements

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