The Gun Machine host Alain Stephens and producer Grace Tatter dig into the scandal-ridden biography of the man who cracked the mass civilian market for guns, and who helped create an iconic genre defined by falsehoods that are misremembered as facts today.

In episode two of The Gun Machine, host Alain Stephens travels down to Florida to attend the Pew Party, where he talks to Black gun owners about why they carry and examines the link between our nation’s fraught history and why it’s so easy to sell us guns today.

Our country would look very different without the gun industry. And without the federal government? The gun industry might not exist at all. The premier episode of The Gun Machine introduces the story of how the U.S. has shaped, and been shaped by, the gun industry — and how we all play a role.

Every time there is a mass shooting in America, the first question is why. When we look for answers, we tend to focus on the incident itself - who the shooter was, why they did it, and who parachutes in to debate the state of regulation — or lack thereof — that allowed it to happen. What we forget is the centuries of history that got us to this long emergency of gun violence in America. Produced by WBUR, Boston’s NPR, in partnership with The Trace, The Gun Machine looks into the past to bring you a story that most Americans never learned in history class: how early partnerships between mad scientist gunsmiths and a fledgling U.S. government created the gun industry in the Northeast, and how that industry has been partners with the government ever since. Host Alain Stephens examines how this 250-year relationship underpins all Americans’ interactions with guns — including our failures in dealing with the fallout of gun violence. The Gun Machine debuts on Oct. 4, 2023. Listen and follow on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

This September, we're bringing you a story that most Americans never learned in history class — a new podcast about the gun industry’s grip on our country. And their biggest partner, since the Revolutionary War: The government. Introducing The Gun Machine: How America was forged by the gun industry. Coming soon to Short Run.

Some experts say that while populism can metastasize into authoritarianism, it doesn't have to. They argue that the roots of American populism made this country's democracy better. And that it's time to resurrect progressive populism. But other observers strongly disagree. The fifth and final episode of On Point's special series 'The power of populism' explores whether populism can make better democracies.

America’s urban-rural divide. It’s easy to think of American populism as disempowered rural residents versus the urban elite. But when it comes to influencing national policy, who has the real power? Episode four of On Point's special series 'The power of populism' is all about flipping the script on the urban-rural divide.

It felt for a while like Wisconsin was ground zero in American politics. How has populism flourished in the Badger state? In the third episode of On Point's special series 'The power of populism', hear all about Wisconsin and the politics of resentment.