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Lawrence Wu
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Lawrence Wu

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. In her play, What the Constitution Means to Me, Heidi Schreck goes through a process of discovering what the document 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 the Constitution and how it has been interpreted have affected not just her family but generations of Americans.

The Shadows of the Constitution (2020)

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Thursday

The Supreme Court (2020)
Kaz Fantone

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The Supreme Court (2020)

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 (2020)

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Thursday

Afghanistan: The Rise of the Taliban
Isabel Seliger

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Afghanistan: The Rise of the Taliban

How did a small group of Islamic students go from local vigilantes to one of the most infamous and enigmatic forces in the world? The Taliban is a name that has haunted the American imagination since 2001. The scenes of the group's brutality repeatedly played in the Western media, while true, perhaps obscure our ability to see the complex origins of the Taliban and how they impact the lives of Afghans. It's a shadow that reaches across the vast ancient Afghan homeland, the reputation of the modern state, and throughout global politics. At the end of the US war in Afghanistan we go back to the end of the Soviet Occupation and the start of the Afghan civil war to look at the rise of the Taliban. Their story concludes Throughline's two-episode investigation on the past, present, and future of the country that was once called "the center of the world."

Afghanistan: The Rise of the Taliban

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Thursday

Afghanistan: The Center of the World
Isabel Seliger for NPR

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Afghanistan: The Center of the World

Afghanistan has, for centuries, been at the center of the world. Long before the U.S. invasion - before the U.S. was even a nation - countless civilizations intersected there, weaving together a colorful tapestry of foods, languages, ethnicities and visions of what Afghanistan was and could be. The story of Afghanistan is too often told from the perspective of outsiders who tried to invade it (and always failed) earning it the nickname "Graveyard of Empires." In this episode, we're shifting the perspective. We'll journey through the centuries alongside Afghan mystical poets. We'll turn the radio dial to hear songs of love and liberation. We'll meet the queen who built the first primary school for girls in the country. And we'll take a closer look at Afghanistan's centuries-long experiment to create a unified nation.

Afghanistan: The Center of the World

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Thursday

The Aftermath of Collapse: Bronze Age Edition (2021)
Deborah Lee

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The Aftermath of Collapse: Bronze Age Edition (2021)

What happens after everything falls apart? The end of the Bronze Age was a moment when an entire network of ancient civilizations collapsed, leaving behind only clues to what happened. Today, scholars have pieced together a story where everything from climate change to mass migration to natural disasters played a role. What the end of the Bronze Age can teach us about avoiding catastrophe and what comes after collapse.

The Aftermath of Collapse: Bronze Age Edition (2021)

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Thursday

Octavia Butler: Visionary Fiction (2021)
Joelle Avelino

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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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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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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

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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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