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

Thursday

Octavia Butler: Visionary Fiction (2021)
Joelle Avelino

Throughline

Octavia Butler: Visionary Fiction (2021)

Octavia Butler's alternate realities and 'speculative fiction' reveal striking, and often devastating parallels to the world we live in today. She was a deep observer of the human condition, perplexed and inspired by our propensity towards self-destruction. Butler was also fascinated by the cyclical nature of history, and often looked to the past when writing about the future. Along with her warning is her message of hope - a hope conjured by centuries of survival and persistence. For every society that perishes in her books comes a story of rebuilding, of repair.

Octavia Butler: Visionary Fiction (2021)

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Thursday

El Libertador and Venezuela's Rise and Fall (2019)
Deborah Lee for NPR

Throughline

El Libertador and Venezuela's Rise and Fall (2019)

Venezuela is facing an economic and humanitarian crisis as extreme poverty and violence have forced many to flee the country in recent years. How did a country once wealthy with oil resources fall into such turmoil? Through the lives of two revolutionaries turned authoritarian leaders separated by two centuries, we look back at the rise and fall of Venezuela.

El Libertador and Venezuela's Rise and Fall (2019)

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Thursday

Lives of the Great Depression (2020)

Deborah Lee Deborah Lee for NPR hide caption

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Deborah Lee for NPR

Throughline

Lives of the Great Depression (2020)

The Great Depression was a revolutionary spark for all kinds of things — health insurance, social safety nets, big government — all of which were in response to a national crisis. Through the personal accounts of four people who lived during the Great Depression, we look back at what life was like back then and what those stories can teach us about the last time the U.S. went through a national economic cataclysm. This is the second episode of our summer series "Movies for Your Mind." Summer movies like you've never heard before.

Lives of the Great Depression (2020)

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Thursday

Stories of How We Cope With Chaos (2021)
Deborah Lee

Throughline

Stories of How We Cope With Chaos (2021)

You've been looking at screens for what feels like forever. Now it's time to sit back, close your eyes, and come with us to worlds you've never seen, and histories you've never imagined. This is the first episode of our summer series "Movies for Your Mind."

Stories of How We Cope With Chaos (2021)

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Thursday

Grenada: Nobody's Backyard

Grenadians watch a landing U.S. convoy during the Grenada Invasion of 1983. Shepard Sherbell/Corbis via Getty Images hide caption

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Shepard Sherbell/Corbis via Getty Images

Throughline

Grenada: Nobody's Backyard

A Marxist revolution, a Cold War proxy battle, and a dream of a Black utopia. In 1983, Ronald Reagan ordered the U.S. military to invade the island of Grenada. Almost four decades later, many Americans don't remember why — or that it even happened. This week, Martine Powers, from Post Reports, brings us a story of revolution, invasion, and the aftermath of unresolved history.

Grenada: Nobody's Backyard

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Thursday

Olympics: Behind The Five Rings

The Olympics have become a huge commercial success, so why do cities like Tokyo often seem to come out on the losing end? Scott Halleran/Getty Images hide caption

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Scott Halleran/Getty Images

Throughline

Olympics: Behind The Five Rings

The Olympics originated in Ancient Greece, and were resurrected in the 1890's after a 1,500 year ban. Since then, the International Olympic Committee has been behind every Olympic Games. In this episode, we explore the story of how the IOC turned the Olympics into a huge commercial success and whether the cities that host the games end up winning or losing.

Olympics: Behind The Five Rings

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Thursday

The Most Sacred Right (2020)
Kaz Fantone

Throughline

The Most Sacred Right (2020)

Frederick Douglass dreamed of a country where all people could vote and he did everything in his power to make that dream a reality. In the face of slavery, the Civil War and the violence of Jim Crow, he fought his entire life for what he believed was a sacred, natural right that should be available to all people - voting.

The Most Sacred Right (2020)

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Thursday

Capitalism: God Wants You To Be Rich

The prosperity gospel is a mix of theology and capitalism that equates wealth with goodness, prosperity with virtue. It has helped shape the broader ideology of American capitalism we live with today. Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images hide caption

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Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

Throughline

Capitalism: God Wants You To Be Rich

In the New Testament, Jesus says it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. In the United States today, many Christians believe in something radically different. In what's known as the prosperity gospel, wealth is a sign of virtue and God's favor. The effects of this belief can be seen throughout American life from business to politics to social policy.

Capitalism: God Wants You To Be Rich

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Monday

Capitalism Has Become An Ideology In Today's America. Here's How It Happened

A demonstrator holds a sign reading "I love capitalism" during a protest against California's stay-at-home order in 2020. Capitalism started as an economic system; it has become an ideology in the modern United States. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

History

Capitalism Has Become An Ideology In Today's America. Here's How It Happened

What started as an economic system has become an all-encompassing force. That wasn't inevitable. NPR's Throughline examines a project that has taken hundreds of years — and is still developing.

Capitalism: What Is It?

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Thursday

Capitalism: What Makes Us Free?

For decades, the New Deal shaped America's economic system, until Neoliberalism came along and eventually eclipsed the old system with one we still live with today. Martin Bernetti/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Martin Bernetti/AFP via Getty Images

Throughline

Capitalism: What Makes Us Free?

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?

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Thursday

Capitalism: What Is It?

Capitalism is an economic system, but what do we really mean when we talk about capitalism? And how does it affect our lives? Alfred Gescheidt/Getty Images hide caption

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Alfred Gescheidt/Getty Images

Analysis

Throughline

Capitalism: What Is It?

What do we mean when we talk about capitalism? Our economic system might seem inevitable, but it's a construction project hundreds of years in the making and no part of it is natural or left to chance. This week, we kick off our series on the past, present and future of capitalism with Kristen Ghodsee, Vivek Chibber, and Bryan Caplan, who debate how an economic system became an all-encompassing force that rules our lives and our minds.

Capitalism: What Is It?

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Thursday

Before Stonewall (2019)

A gay rights march in New York in favor of the 1968 Civil Rights Act being amended to include gay rights. Peter Keegan/Getty Images hide caption

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Peter Keegan/Getty Images

Throughline

Before Stonewall (2019)

In 1969, a gay bar in New York City called The Stonewall Inn was raided by police. It was a common form of harassment in those days but what followed, days of rebellion as patrons fought back, was anything but ordinary. Today, that event is seen as the start of the gay civil rights movement, but gay activists and organizations were standing up to harassment and discrimination years before. On this episode from our archives, the fight for gay rights before Stonewall.

Before Stonewall (2019)

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Thursday

Who is NPR (For)?

Luke Medina NPR hide caption

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NPR

Throughline

Who is NPR (For)?

Who is the media meant to serve? And why does it matter today, arguably, more than ever? 50 years ago, National Public Radio began as a small, scrappy news organization with big ideals and a very small footprint. Over the subsequent years of coverage and programming, NPR has grown and evolved into a mainstream media outlet, with a mission of serving audiences that reflect America. This week, Michel Martin, host of Weekend All Things Considered, talks to us about her time at NPR and the importance of representing all voices in news.

Who is NPR (For)?

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Thursday

The Supreme Court

Kaz Fantone NPR hide caption

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NPR

Throughline

The Supreme Court

When, why, and how did the Supreme Court get the final say in the law of the land? The question of the Court's role, and whether its decisions should reign above all the other branches of government, has been hotly debated for centuries. And that's resulted in a Supreme Court more powerful than anything the Founding Fathers could have imagined possible.

The Supreme Court

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Wednesday

History

The Historical Perspective Behind The Latest Israel-Hamas Conflict

The recent Gaza-Israel violence began with an issue that's plagued the region for a century: settlements. NPR's history podcast Throughline relays the back story of settlements and displacement.

The Historical Perspective Behind The Latest Israel-Hamas Conflict

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