Podcast Episodes

Congress has voted to eliminate government funding for public media

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.

Learn more about sponsor messag…

Published on 3 months, 2 weeks ago

Edward Said and the Question of Palestine

Episode 351

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 stude…

Published on 3 months, 2 weeks ago

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 un…

Published on 3 months, 3 weeks ago

Does America Need a Hero?

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?…

Published on 4 months ago

Iran and the U.S., Part Three: Soleimani's Iran

The Iran-Iraq war, 9/11, and the story of Iranian Revolutionary Guard general Qassem Soleimani, from his rise to power, to his assassination, by the U.S., to the power his legacy wields now.

This epis…

Published on 4 months, 1 week ago

Iran and the U.S., Part Two: Rules of Engagement

Military confrontations, early-morning attacks, and digital warfare: the story of Iran and the U.S. from the 1979 Iranian revolution to the fraught moment we're in today.

This episode originally ran …

Published on 4 months, 1 week ago

What the Supreme Court Does in the Shadows

Episode 348

The Supreme Court is issuing its final decisions of the term this month. But it's been extraordinarily active since January, in part because the Trump administration has submitted over a dozen emerge…

Published on 4 months, 1 week ago

Iran and the U.S., Part One: Four Days in August

The U.S. and Iran have had a tense relationship for decades — but when did that begin? This week, we feature our very first episode about an event from August 1953 — when the CIA helped to overthrow …

Published on 4 months, 1 week ago

Abortion Before Roe

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 m…

Published on 4 months, 2 weeks ago

The First Department of Education

Episode 346

Whose job is it to educate Americans? Congress created the first Department of Education just after the Civil War as a way to help reunify a broken country. A year later, it was basically shut down. …

Published on 4 months, 3 weeks ago