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Rund Abdelfatah Rund Abdelfatah is the co-host and producer of Throughline.
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Rund Abdelfatah

Thursday

The Characters That Built China

Two craftsmen printing a book in kanji, the Chinese logographic system, circa 1800. Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption

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Hulton Archive/Getty Images

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The Characters That Built China

Today, China is a global superpower. But less than two hundred years ago, the nation was in a state of decline. After what became known as the 'century of humiliation' at the hands of Western imperialist powers, its very survival was in question. A movement arose to fight off foreign interference and preserve Chinese culture in the face of intense pressure from a rapidly-changing world. And the key to that movement was language.

The Characters That Built China

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Thursday

Before Roe: The Physicians' Crusade

A depiction of the first ovariotomy, which was performed in 1809. Library of Congress hide caption

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Library of Congress

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Before Roe: The Physicians' Crusade

Abortion wasn't always controversial. In fact, in colonial America it would have been considered a fairly common practice: a private decision made by women, and aided mostly by midwives. But in the mid-1800s, a small group of physicians set out to change that. Obstetrics was a new field, and they wanted it to be their domain—meaning, the domain of men and medicine. Led by a zealous young doctor named Horatio Storer, they launched a campaign to make abortion illegal in every state, spreading a potent cloud of moral righteousness and racial panic that one historian later called "the physicians' crusade." And so began the century of criminalization.

Before Roe: The Physicians' Crusade

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Thursday

The Shadows of the Constitution (2020)

The Preamble to the US Constitution. Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty hide caption

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Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty

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The Shadows of the Constitution (2020)

The Constitution is like America's secular Bible, our sacred founding document. As the Supreme Court debates the future of Roe v. Wade, many of us are looking more closely at the Constitution, trying to discern how it protects us. In her play, "What the Constitution Means to Me," Heidi Schreck goes through her own process of discovering what the Constitution is really about: who wrote it, who it was for, who it protected and who it didn't. Through Heidi's personal story, we learn how both the document itself and the way it's been interpreted have affected generations of Americans — and how those effects are far from ended.

The Shadows of the Constitution (2020)

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Thursday

The Americas

Cinco de Mayo is part of a deeper story of 2 nations trying to define themselves

Cinco de Mayo has come to stand for a celebration of Mexican culture and heritage. On May 5, 1862, an epic battle was fought and won by Mexicans, which helped shape the future of Mexico and the U.S.

Cinco de Mayo is part of a deeper story of 2 nations trying to define themselves

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Cinco de Mayo and the Rise of Modern Mexico

Brothers Ricardo Flores Magón and Enrique Flores Magón at Los Angeles Federal Court after being arrested on federal charges for their political activities. UCLA Charles E. Young Research Library Department of Special Collections hide caption

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UCLA Charles E. Young Research Library Department of Special Collections

Throughline

Cinco de Mayo and the Rise of Modern Mexico

Does history have a border? That is the question at the heart of Cinco de Mayo, May 5th, a holiday that symbolizes Mexico's fight for autonomy, even as it's come to be associated with sales and cervezas and margaritas in the U.S. Cinco de Mayo is part of a much deeper story of two nations — Mexico and the U.S. — trying to define themselves at a time when old empires were crumbling and borders were in flux. A story that culminated in a revolution in Mexico that was at the forefront of a worldwide movement against predatory capitalism and foreign domination. So in this episode, we're going back to the first Cinco de Mayo and exploring how it helped shape the future on both sides of the border.

Cinco de Mayo and the Rise of Modern Mexico

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Thursday

The New Gilded Age
Library of Congress

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The New Gilded Age

Philanthropic foundations are a fundamental part of our society: they support media, the arts, education, medical research, and more. NPR, and even this show, is supported by many personal and family foundations. But it wasn't always that way. In this episode, we go back to the beginning — the Gilded Age. We trace the birth and evolution of what many today call "big philanthropy," and ask what all this private wealth means for the public good.

The New Gilded Age

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Thursday

The Everlasting Problem (2020)

Health care reform supporters participate in a sit-in inside the lobby of a building where Aetna insurance offices are located September 29, 2009 in New York City. The protesters were eventually arrested by NYPD. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) Mario Tama/Getty Images hide caption

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Mario Tama/Getty Images

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The Everlasting Problem (2020)

Health insurance for millions of Americans is dependent on their jobs. But it's not like that everywhere. So how did the U.S. end up with such a fragile system that leaves so many vulnerable—or with no health insurance at all? On this episode, how a temporary solution created an everlasting problem.

The Everlasting Problem (2020)

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Thursday

Capitalism: What Makes Us Free? (2021)

President elect Ronald Reagan (fifth from left) meets with his top economic advisers, including Milton Friedman (second from left) to discuss his economic agenda. Bettmann/Bettmann Archive hide caption

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Bettmann/Bettmann Archive

Analysis

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Capitalism: What Makes Us Free? (2021)

What's the role of government in society? What do we mean when we talk about individual responsibility? What makes us free? 'Neoliberalism' might feel like a squishy term that's hard to define and understand. But this ideology, founded by a group of men in the Swiss Alps, is a political project that has dominated our economic system for decades. In the name of free-market fundamentals, the forces behind neoliberalism act like an invisible hand, shaping almost every aspect of our lives.

Capitalism: What Makes Us Free? (2021)

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Thursday

The Land of the Fee (2021)

Beautifully Illustrated Antique Engraved Victorian Illustration of Luxurious Early American Railway Pullman Dining Car, 1877. Source: Original edition from my own archives. Copyright has expired on this artwork. Digitally restored. bauhaus1000/Getty Images hide caption

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The Land of the Fee (2021)

Tipping is a norm in the United States—and it's always been controversial. The practice took off after the Civil War, as employers sought cheap labor from formerly enslaved people: if tips were expected, companies could get away with paying laughably low wages. But the practice was always controversial, and has been vehemently challenged since it first came to the U.S. from Europe. We speak with Nina Martyris, a journalist who's written about the history of tipping in the United States, to find out how tipping—once deemed a "cancer in the breast of democracy"— went from being considered wholly un-American to becoming a deeply American custom.

The Land of the Fee (2021)

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Thursday

All Wars Are Fought Twice

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Nik Wheeler/Corbis

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All Wars Are Fought Twice

"All wars are fought twice, the first time on the battlefield, the second time in memory," writes Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen. This week on Throughline, we want to pause the news cycle to think about not just how war is experienced or consumed, but how it's remembered. A refugee from the Vietnam War, Nguyen calls himself a scholar of memory — someone who studies how we remember events of the past, both as people and as nations. As the world watches the war in Ukraine — and with the U.S. departure from Afghanistan still fresh — we speak with Nguyen about national memory, selective forgetting, and the refugee stories that might ultimately help us move forward.

All Wars Are Fought Twice

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Thursday

Our Own People (2021)

Yuri Kochiyama speaks at an anti-war demonstration in New York City's Central Park around 1968. Courtesy of the Kochiyama family/UCLA Asian American Studies Center hide caption

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Courtesy of the Kochiyama family/UCLA Asian American Studies Center

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Our Own People (2021)

A Japanese American activist whose early political awakenings came while incarcerated in the concentration camps of World War II America, Kochiyama dedicated her life to social justice and liberation movements. One year after the spa shootings that killed eight people in Atlanta, Georgia — including six women of Asian descent — Throughline reflects on Kochiyama's ideas around the Asian American struggle, and what solidarity and intersectionality can mean for all struggles.

Our Own People (2021)

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Thursday

Ukraine's Dangerous Independence

KYIV, UKRAINE - MARCH 05: A member of a Territorial Defence unit guards a barricade next to writing saying " Glory To Ukraine" close to the eastern frontline on March 05, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Russia continues assault on Ukraine's major cities, including the capital Kyiv, more than a week after launching a large-scale invasion of the country. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images) Chris McGrath/Getty Images hide caption

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Analysis

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Ukraine's Dangerous Independence

Months before Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine, he published an essay on the Kremlin website called "On The Historical Unity of Russia and Ukraine." In it, he suggested that Ukrainians don't really have their own identity — and that they never have. Historian Serhii Plokhii says that couldn't be further from the truth. The histories of the two countries are deeply intertwined, but Ukrainian identity is unique. Today, we explore that identity: how it formed, its relationship to Russia, and how it helps us understand what's happening now.

Ukraine's Dangerous Independence

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Thursday

Of Rats and Men

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New York Public Library Digital Collection

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Of Rats and Men

Rats. Love 'em or hate 'em, (though you probably hate 'em), they're part of our world. And during the pandemic, they've been out in full force: fewer humans outdoors means more space for rats. And it turns out, they're a lot like us: They've colonized the whole planet; they're incredibly adaptable; they go wherever the resources are. And, they share one-fourth of our genome—so when you're looking in the mirror, you're kinda seeing a rat staring back at you. So for this episode, we dove into the history of our rodent doppelgängers. What we found was a story that spans thousands of years and nearly every continent on Earth, from the fields of ancient Mongolia to the palaces of Victorian England to the laboratories of 20th century Maryland... and probably to a burrow near you.

Of Rats and Men

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Thursday

There Are No Utopias

Robin D. G. Kelley Simon & Schuster hide caption

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Simon & Schuster

Perspective

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There Are No Utopias

It may seem bleak, but Robin D.G Kelley's view of the world says there is no promise of liberation, only struggle. Kelley has spent his career bringing to life the stories of the Black labor organizers and anti-capitalists who are often left out of history books, from radical farmers in the South to Black unions during the Gilded Age. And he's come to a provocative conclusion: that the secret to capitalism's survival is racism. His scholarship uses historical connections between race and labor to directly challenge the premise that there can be any justice within America's current economic system — and to ask what that means for the people who seek it. This week on Throughline, a view of Black history you don't often hear in February.

There Are No Utopias

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Thursday

History

'Throughline': The battle over the filibuster's future is a battle over its past

The filibuster can stop bills from reaching the Senate floor and lead to hours-long speeches. It can be hard to understand what a filibuster is, why we have it and how it impacts the country.

'Throughline': The battle over the filibuster's future is a battle over its past

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