Accessibility links
Lawrence Wu
Stories By

Lawrence Wu

Thursday

There Are No Utopias

Robin D. G. Kelley Simon & Schuster hide caption

toggle caption
Simon & Schuster

Perspective

Throughline

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

Listen · 49:14
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1082030426/1200556536" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

Marcus Garvey: Pan-Africanist (2021)

Joelle Avelino Joelle Avelino hide caption

toggle caption
Joelle Avelino

Throughline

Marcus Garvey: Pan-Africanist (2021)

Black people deserve nothing less than everything: This was Marcus Garvey's simple, uncompromising message. His speeches on Pan-Africanism — the vision of a world where all people of African origin, on every continent, were united, self-sufficient, and proud — made him a powerful Black voice in the 20th century. His steamship company, the Black Star Line, was supposed to take his followers to Africa, where he said they would find true liberation. His message resonated with leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcom X. But the civil rights establishment viewed Garvey with deep suspicion. And the Black Star Line never sailed. In today's episode, we examine Marcus Garvey's life and legacy, and how he became the towering, often-misunderstood figure that he is.

Marcus Garvey: Pan-Africanist (2021)

Listen · 59:33
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1080665553/1200556540" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Wednesday

Pirates of the Senate

Susan Walsh Susan Walsh/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Susan Walsh/AP

Throughline

Pirates of the Senate

The fight over the filibuster brings up some deeper questions that we as a country are facing. How do we make space for disagreement without ending up at a stalemate? Can we use the tools given to us by previous generations without turning them into weapons? And how do we decide which parts of our system should be changed – and when it's time to change? The filibuster can hold legislation hostage, stop bills from ever reaching the Senate floor, and lead to hours-long speeches in Congress, but it can be hard to understand what a filibuster actually is, why we have it, and how it impacts the country. In this episode, we look at how the ongoing battle over the filibuster's future is in some ways a battle over its past.

Pirates of the Senate

Listen · 52:32
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1078984159/1200556544" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

A Story Of Us?

Uriel Sinai/Getty Images Uriel Sinai/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Uriel Sinai/Getty Images

Analysis

Throughline

A Story Of Us?

We've been seeing a lot of debate recently about how history should be taught. For example, some believe that the Civil War was about state rights while some argue that slavery played a large role in it. But what if we could all agree on one shared history? The past, as we know it, is a collection of billions of smaller stories that coalesce into the stories of families, communities, nations, and entire cultures. According to Tamim Ansary, narrative is the way we invent the past and the key to understanding history is understanding the stories we tell ourselves about three key areas: technology, environment, and language. With a world seemingly more connected than ever and still volatile with a constant sense of fracturing identities, Tamim contends that our shared history is a story we must invent. And the future of our species depends on our ability to develop a story we can all see ourselves in.

A Story Of Us?

Listen · 46:20
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1077733601/1200556548" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

From KGB Officer to Russia's Longest Leader: Vladimir Putin

AP Photo/Misha Japaridze Misha Japaridze/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Misha Japaridze/AP

Throughline

From KGB Officer to Russia's Longest Leader: Vladimir Putin

As tensions between Ukraine and Russia escalate, we decided to take a look at the man who has been running Russia for two decades: Vladimir Putin. How did a former KGB officer make his way up to the top seat — was it political prowess or was he just the recipient of a lot of good fortune? In this episode, we dive into the life of Vladimir Putin and try to understand how he became Russia's new "tsar."

From KGB Officer to Russia's Longest Leader: Vladimir Putin

Listen · 33:22
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1075904050/1200556552" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Thursday

The Way We Dream
AP

Perspective

Throughline

The Way We Dream

Our dreams can haunt us: literally. Recurring dreams about failing tests or running late are a common occurrence, but what are we to make of them? And are there hidden meanings in our dreams? Paleolithic hunter-gatherers may have painted their dreams onto caves, Julius Caesar's wife envisioned his assassination in a dream, and major works of art and music have been inspired by dreams. But with the scientific revolution came a different view of dreams, one in which they were dismissed as merely a meaningless biological reaction. Today, researchers are challenging that age-old assumption and finding new evidence that dreams are a vital way human beings process the world. In this episode, Sidarta Ribeiro takes us on a journey through the history of our understanding of dreams.

The Way We Dream

Listen · 51:20
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1074118733/1200556560" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

Bayard Rustin: The Man Behind the March on Washington (2021)

Joelle Avelino Joelle Avelino hide caption

toggle caption
Joelle Avelino

Throughline

Bayard Rustin: The Man Behind the March on Washington (2021)

Bayard Rustin, the man behind the March on Washington, was one of the most consequential architects of the civil rights movement you may never have heard of. Rustin imagined how nonviolent civil resistance could be used to dismantle segregation in the United States. He organized around the idea for years and eventually introduced it to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. But his identity as a gay man made him a target, obscured his rightful status and made him feel forced to choose, again and again, which aspect of his identity was most important.

Bayard Rustin: The Man Behind the March on Washington (2021)

Listen · 1:10:26
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1072465899/1200556564" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Thursday

The Anatomy of Autocracy: Timothy Snyder (2021)

Supporters of former President Donald Trump gather outside the Capitol building in Washington D.C. Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Throughline

The Anatomy of Autocracy: Timothy Snyder (2021)

When a mob of pro-Trump supporters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 they also incited a defining moment in United States history. Now what? We revisit our conversation with historian Timothy Snyder about how we got here and what an insurrection could mean for the future of America.

The Anatomy of Autocracy: Timothy Snyder (2021)

Listen · 34:59
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1070569640/1200556568" 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 Electrical Grid (2020)

The sun sets over the dark Manhattan skyline on August 14, 2003. A power outage affected large parts of the northeastern United States and Canada. Robert Giroux/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Robert Giroux/Getty Images

Throughline

The Electrical Grid (2020)

Today, electricity in the U.S. is a utility we notice only when it's suddenly unavailable. But over a hundred years ago, electricity in the homes of every American was a wild idea and the subject of a bitter fight over who would power, and profit from, the national grid. This week, the battle that electrified our world and the extreme measures that were taken to get there.

The Electrical Grid (2020)

Listen · 42:30
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1066811317/1200556572" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Thursday

American Socialist (2020)

A mugshot of Eugene V. Debs with his prisoner number in 1920. He was imprisoned in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary for speaking out against the draft during World War I. The New York Public Library hide caption

toggle caption
The New York Public Library

Throughline

American Socialist (2020)

American workers are reaching a breaking point. We're seeing a wave of resignations and labor strikes, and a supply chain that's cracking under the pressure. At the turn of the 20th century, one man faced a similar world and dreamt of something more – Eugene V. Debs.

American Socialist (2020)

Listen · 1:04:23
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1066806317/1200556580" 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

A Symphony of Resistance (2021)

Graffitied wall off Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo, Egypt, February 11, 2011. Egyptians celebrated minutes after former President Mubarak resigned from his presidential duties in the early evening on February 11 in Cairo, Egypt. Kim Badawi Images/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Kim Badawi Images/Getty Images

Throughline

A Symphony of Resistance (2021)

The Arab Spring erupted eleven years ago when a wave of "pro-democracy" protests spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa. The effects of the uprisings reverberated around the world as regimes fell in some countries, and civil war began in others. This week, we remember the years leading up to the Arab Spring, and its lasting impact on three people who lived through it.

A Symphony of Resistance (2021)

Listen · 57:08
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1060445016/1200556592" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">