Accessibility links
Rund Abdelfatah Rund Abdelfatah is the co-host and producer of Throughline.
Rund Abdelfatah headshot
Stories By

Rund Abdelfatah

Thursday

Health Insurance in America
Mario Tama/Getty Images

Throughline

Health Insurance in America

Millions of Americans depend on their jobs for health insurance. But that's not the case in many other wealthy countries. How did the U.S. end up with a system that's so expensive, yet leaves so many people vulnerable? On this episode, how a temporary solution created an everlasting problem. This episode originally ran in 2020 as The Everlasting Problem.

Health Insurance in America

Listen · 52:58
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1234145475/1267097621" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Thursday

The Evolution of Presidential Power
Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images

Throughline

The Evolution of Presidential Power

What can and can't the president do — and how do we know? The framers of the U.S. Constitution left the powers of the executive branch powers deliberately vague, and in doing so opened the door for every president to decide how much power they could claim. Over time, that's become quite a lot. This episode originally ran in 2020 and has been updated with new material.

The Evolution of Presidential Power

Listen · 51:40
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1232637594/1266733632" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

The Anti-Vaccine Movement
Scott Eisen/Getty Images

Throughline

The Anti-Vaccine Movement

The alleged link between vaccines and autism was first published in 1998, in a since-retracted study in medical journal The Lancet. The claim has been repeatedly disproven: there is no evidence that vaccines and autism are related. But by the mid-2000s, the myth was out there, and its power was growing, fueled by distrust of government, misinformation, and high-profile boosters like Jim Carrey and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. In this episode: the roots of the modern anti-vaccine movement, and of the fears that still fuel it – from a botched polio vaccine, to the discredited autism study, to today.

The Anti-Vaccine Movement

Listen · 48:48
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1231104444/1266379017" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

The History of Birthright Citizenship

Painted portrait of Wong Kim Ark in the Asian American Community Heroes Mural, located in San Francisco's Chinatown. Julie Caine/Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco hide caption

toggle caption
Julie Caine/Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco

Throughline

The History of Birthright Citizenship

Wong Kim Ark was born in the U.S. and lived his whole life here. But when he returned from a trip to China in August of 1895, officials wouldn't let him leave his ship. Citing the Chinese Exclusion Act, which denied citizenship to Chinese immigrants, they told him he was not, in fact, a citizen of the United States.

The History of Birthright Citizenship

Listen · 57:44
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1229439880/1265969354" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

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

Listen · 48:24
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1227850875/1265598666" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

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

Listen · 47:58
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1226281141/1265202515" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

Ralph Nader, Consumer Crusader (Throwback)
Keystone/Getty Images

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)

Listen · 46:39
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1224897141/1264857645" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

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

Listen · 49:40
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1223663754/1264485483" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

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

Listen · 49:39
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1222474629/1264160349" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

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

Listen · 53:07
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1221596357/1263970913" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

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

Listen · 51:13
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1220280847/1263758731" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Thursday

When Christmas Went Viral
Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images

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

Listen · 49:55
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1218737986/1263467953" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

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.

Listen · 52:40
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1217308651/1263172653" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

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

toggle caption
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)

Listen · 49:24
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1215540863/1262820242" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

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

Listen · 5:38
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5205350/nx-s1-5272351-1" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript