Episodios

  • We the People: Cruel and Unusual Punishment

    We the People: Cruel and Unusual Punishment
    Aug 7 2025
    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. This episode was originally published in January 2025.

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    48 m
  • We the People: The Right to Remain Silent

    We the People: The Right to Remain Silent
    Jul 31 2025
    The Fifth Amendment. You have the right to remain silent when you're being questioned in police custody, thanks to the Fifth's protection against self-incrimination. But most people end up talking to police anyway. Why? Today on Throughline's We the People: the Fifth Amendment, the right to remain silent, and how hard it can be to use it. This episode originally ran in March 2025.

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    49 m
  • Embedded: The Network

    Embedded: The Network
    Jul 29 2025
    In the mid-1980s, an OBGYN in Brazil noticed that far fewer pregnant women at his hospital were dying from abortion complications. It wasn't a coincidence. Brazilian women had made a discovery that allowed them to safely have abortions at home, despite the country's abortion restrictions. That discovery eventually spread across the globe.

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    40 m
  • We The People: Canary in the Coal Mine

    We The People: Canary in the Coal Mine
    Jul 24 2025
    The Third Amendment.

    Maybe you've heard it as part of a punchline. It's the one about quartering troops — two words you probably haven't heard side by side since about the late 1700s.

    At first glance, it might not seem super relevant to modern life. But in fact, the U.S. government has gotten away with violating the Third Amendment several times since its ratification — and every time it's gone largely unnoticed.

    In a time of escalating political violence, police forces armed with military equipment, and more frequent and devastating natural disasters, why the Third Amendment deserves a closer look. This episode originally ran in 2024.

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    47 m
  • Congress has voted to eliminate government funding for public media

    Congress has voted to eliminate government funding for public media
    Jul 18 2025
    Act now to ensure public media remains free and accessible to all. Your donation will help this essential American service survive and thrive. Visit donate.npr.org now.

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    2 m
  • Edward Said and the Question of Palestine

    Edward Said and the Question of Palestine
    Jul 17 2025
    Edward Said brought the question of Palestine into the American mainstream. He taught at Columbia University for nearly 40 years, and today, more than two decades after his death, pro-Palestine student protesters on that campus and others have invoked his name. Meanwhile, his interviews circulate on social media and his books are taught at universities around the world. On this episode: the story of the man who pushed for recognition of the Palestinian perspective, the pushback he faced, and the dangers he foresaw.

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    51 m
  • What Makes Us Free?

    What Makes Us Free?
    Jul 10 2025
    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. This episode originally ran as "Capitalism: What Makes Us Free?"

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    49 m
  • Does America Need a Hero?

    Does America Need a Hero?
    Jul 3 2025
    Captain America: an all-American superhero. Clad in red, white, and blue, he carries only a shield. And he fights only when he must. When it's right.

    But what happens when what's right isn't so clear? And how does a comic book hero designed to represent America's values survive in a changing world?

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    51 m