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NPR's home for audio documentaries brings untold stories to light through deeply reported narrative series. We go to hidden corners of the headlines to explore what's been sealed off, undisclosed, or overlooked – and the people at the heart of those stories.

Support in-depth storytelling that matters by subscribing to Embedded+ and unlock early access to new episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org/embedded

Most Recent Episodes

Alternate Realities: Facing the Facts
Luke Medina for NPR

Alternate Realities: Facing the Facts

Episode 3: After a year of waiting, the bet is finally over. Reporter Zach Mack takes stock of his father's predictions and confronts him about the future of the family.

Alternate Realities: Facing the Facts

Listen · 28:20
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Alternate Realities: Down the Rabbit Hole
Luke Medina for NPR

Alternate Realities: Down the Rabbit Hole

Episode 2: After reporter Zach Mack accepts a bet with his father over 10 politically apocalyptic predictions, he sets out on a journey to change his dad's mind.

Alternate Realities: Down the Rabbit Hole

Listen · 31:49
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Alternate Realities: A Strange Bet
Luke Medina for NPR

Alternate Realities: A Strange Bet

Episode 1: Reporter Zach Mack thinks his dad has gone all in on conspiracy theories, while his father thinks that Zach is the one being brainwashed. In 2024, after the latest round of circular arguments, they decided to try something new, an attempt to pull each other out of the spell each of them thinks the other is under. Can one family live in two realities?

Alternate Realities: A Strange Bet

Listen · 26:34
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Introducing Alternate Realities from NPR
Luke Medina for NPR

Introducing Alternate Realities from NPR

Zach Mack and his dad are living in separate realities, and it's tearing their family apart.

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Listen · 2:34
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Five Fingers Crush The Land from NPR's Throughline
Guang Niu/Getty Images

Five Fingers Crush The Land from NPR's Throughline

As NPR correspondent Emily Feng reported in our three-part series "The Black Gate," hundreds of thousands of Uyghur people have been detained in China. They've been subjected to torture, forced labor, religious restrictions, and even forced sterilization. In this episode from 2021, our colleagues at the history podcast Throughline explore who the Uyghur people are, their land, their customs, their music and how they've become such a target in China today. To listen to this series sponsor-free and support NPR, sign up for Embedded+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

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Listen · 55:32
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The Black Gate: Arresting Your Brothers and Sisters

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Luke Medina for NPR

The Black Gate: Arresting Your Brothers and Sisters

As NPR correspondent Emily Feng reported on the Kucar family, she encountered a mysterious figure working to keep her sources from speaking out. Later, she meets another Uyghur man who - perhaps unwillingly - becomes an actor within China's systems of control. These men are accused of working to silence others, but they say they've found themselves silenced as well. To listen to this series sponsor-free and support NPR, sign up for Embedded+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

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Listen · 41:45
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The Black Gate: Like a Bullet from a Gun
Luke Medina for NPR

The Black Gate: Like a Bullet from a Gun

Abdullatif Kucar returns to China, determined to find his children, who have been sent to state-run "boarding schools," and his wife, who has spent two years in prison. They're among hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs arrested and detained over the years. Kucar is trying to do what is virtually impossible in China: bring his loved ones home for good. To listen to this series sponsor-free and support NPR, sign up for Embedded+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

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Listen · 32:25
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The Black Gate: Vanished in the Night
Luke Medina for NPR

The Black Gate: Vanished in the Night

In the Xinjiang region of western China, the government has rounded up and detained hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic groups, including the wife and young children of a Uyghur businessman named Abdullatif Kucar. NPR correspondent Emilly Feng follows Kucar as he desperately searches for his missing family. To listen to this series sponsor-free and support NPR, sign up for Embedded+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

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Listen · 27:52
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Introducing The Black Gate from NPR
Luke Medina for NPR

Introducing The Black Gate from NPR

This is the story of a people being erased, one family at a time. For almost a decade, the Chinese government has been detaining hundreds of thousands of ethnic Uyghurs in what critics call a systematic attempt to dismantle their culture. And since the beginning, NPR correspondent Emily Feng has reported on these detentions, which were described by the United Nations as possibly constituting crimes against humanity. In this three-part series, Emily follows one man desperately trying to reunite with his wife and children. Along the way, she uncovers surprising new details about some of the Uyghurs enabling this massive surveillance state. To listen to this series sponsor-free and support NPR, sign up for Embedded+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

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Listen · 2:35
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A Good Guy: Under Oath
Luke Medina/NPR

A Good Guy: Under Oath

There's a promise that all Marines make to defend the Constitution. After Sgt. Joshua Abate participated in the events on January 6, the Corps has to decide: Did he break his oath when he entered the Capitol that day? And what does his case say about the changing narrative around January 6? To listen to this series sponsor-free and support NPR, sign up for Embedded+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

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Listen · 34:10
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