Slow Burn
Slate Podcasts
Slow Burn illuminates America’s most consequential moments, making sense of the past to better understand the present. Through archival tape and first-person interviews, the series uncovers the surprising events and little-known characters lurking within the biggest stories of our time.Want more Slow Burn? Join Slate Plus to unlock full, ad-free access to Slow Burn and your other favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Slow Burn show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/slowburnplus to get access wherever you listen.Season 10: The Rise of Fox NewsHow a cable news channel became a cultural and political force—and how a whole bunch of people rose up to try and stop it.Season 9: Gays Against BriggsA nationwide moral panic, a California legislator who rode the anti-gay wave, and the LGBTQ+ people who stepped up and came out to try and stop him.Season 8: Becoming Justice ThomasWhere Clarence Thomas came from, how he rose to power, and how he’s brought the rest of us along with him, whether we like it or not. Winner of the Podcast of the Year at the 2024 Ambies Awards.Season 7: Roe v. WadeThe women who fought for legal abortion, the activists who pushed back, and the justices who thought they could solve the issue for good. Winner of Apple Podcasts Show of the Year in 2022.Season 6: The L.A. RiotsHow decades of police brutality, a broken justice system, and a video tape set off six days of unrest in Los Angeles.Season 5: The Road to the Iraq WarEighteen months after 9/11, the United States invaded a country that had nothing to do with the attacks. Who’s to blame? And was there any way to stop it?Season 4: David DukeAmerica’s most famous white supremacist came within a runoff of controlling Louisiana. How did David Duke rise to power? And what did it take to stop him?Season 3: Biggie and TupacHow is it that two of the most famous performers in the world were murdered within a year of each other—and their killings were never solved?Season 2: The Clinton ImpeachmentA reexamination of the scandals that nearly destroyed the 42nd president and forever changed the life of a former White House intern.Season 1: WatergateWhat did it feel like to live through the scandal that brought down President Nixon? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Nov 3, 2021 • 39min
The L.A. Riots | 1. The Tape
On the night of March 2nd, 1991, at a remote intersection just outside of L.A., four police officers surrounded an unarmed Black man. They struck him 56 times with their batons before arresting him. Across the street, standing on his second-floor balcony, a bystander named George Holliday recorded the scene on his home video camera. This is what happened after the camera stopped rolling. Want more Slow Burn? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately access all episodes of Slow Burn (and your other favorite Slate podcasts) completely ad-free. Plus, you’ll unlock subscriber-exclusive bonus episodes that bring you behind-the-scenes on the making of the show. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/slowburnplus to get access wherever you listen.Season 6 of Slow Burn is produced by Joel Anderson, Jayson De Leon, Ethan Brooks, Sophie Summergrad, and Jasmine Ellis.Mixing by Merritt Jacob. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Oct 26, 2021 • 2min
Season 6 Trailer: The L.A. Riots
In 1992, a jury failed to convict the four Los Angeles police officers who'd been captured on videotape beating Rodney King. The city erupted into fire and chaos – the culmination of decades of unchecked police abuse and racial injustice.For the sixth season of Slate’s Slow Burn, Joel Anderson returns to explore the people and events behind the biggest civil disturbance in American history – a story that’s still playing out today.Slow Burn Season 6 is hosted by Joel Anderson. He is the host of Slow Burn Season 3: Biggie and Tupac, a co-host of Slate's Hang-Up and Listen, and covers the intersection of race, politics, and sports for Slate.The season begins on Wednesday, November 3rd. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Aug 20, 2021 • 50min
One Year: Jesus on a Tortilla
After Maria Rubio saw Jesus on a tortilla, her family got besieged by believers and gawkers and the national press. But for the Rubios, the tortilla wasn’t just a public spectacle. It was the miracle that changed their family. And decades later, they’re still reckoning with how that tortilla upended everything.One Year is produced by Josh Levin, Evan Chung, and Madeline Ducharme. Mixing by Merritt Jacob.To support this show, subscribe to One Year on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Aug 12, 2021 • 52min
One Year: Roots: The Saga of Alex Haley
Alex Haley’s Roots displayed the brutal realities of slavery to more than 100 million Americans. The book and mini-series also made a bold claim: that Haley was the first Black American to trace his lineage all the way back to Africa, and to a specific ancestor captured into slavery. What would it mean, for Haley and America, if he hadn’t found what he said he’d found?To support this show, subscribe to One Year on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Aug 10, 2021 • 49min
One Year: Mr. Marijuana and the Drug Czar
America’s top weed evangelist and the nation’s drug czar shared the same goal: to loosen up the country’s marijuana laws. In 1977, everything was trending their way—until a blowout Christmas party destroyed their plans, and transformed the future of marijuana in the United States.One Year is produced by Josh Levin, Evan Chung, and Madeline Ducharme. Mixing by Merritt Jacob.To support this show, subscribe to One Year on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Aug 5, 2021 • 55min
One Year: Elvis, the Pledge, and Extraterrestrials
Three stories from one day in August 1977. Elvis Presley dies, and the National Enquirer goes after the ultimate tabloid scoop: a photo of the King in his coffin. A New Jersey high schooler becomes a pariah when she refuses to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Astronomers in Ohio get a mysterious signal from outer space—could it be a message from aliens?One Year is produced by Josh Levin, Evan Chung, and Madeline Ducharme. Mixing by Merritt Jacob.To support this show, subscribe to One Year on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Aug 2, 2021 • 57min
One Year: The Miracle Cure
Medical authorities said that Laetrile was dangerous quackery. It became a sensation anyway. Diana Green saw this drug made from apricot pits as her son Chad’s best chance to survive leukemia. Her shocking actions, and the little boy affected by them, became the focus of a heated national debate over freedom of medical choice.One Year is produced by Josh Levin, Evan Chung, and Madeline Ducharme. Mixing by Merritt Jacob.To support this show, subscribe to One Year on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jul 29, 2021 • 50min
One Year: Mary Shane's Rookie Season
Mary Shane made history with the Chicago White Sox, becoming the first woman hired as a legitimate major-league baseball announcer. But in 1977, she had to fight to be taken seriously in one of America’s most sexist industries.One Year is produced by Josh Levin, Evan Chung, and Madeline Ducharme. Mixing by Merritt Jacob.To support this show, subscribe to One Year on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jul 22, 2021 • 1h 2min
Decoder Ring: The Sign Painter
Decoder Ring is Slate's show about cracking cultural mysteries. In each episode, host Willa Paskin takes a cultural question, object, or habit, examines its history, and tries to figure out what it means and why it matters.This episode introduces you to Ilona Granet, who was a New York art-scene fixture who won the praise of the art world when she put up anti-harassment street signs in lower Manhattan in the mid- 1980s. Her career seemed like a sure thing, but three decades on, and so much more art later, it still hasn’t materialized, even as her contemporaries are now hanging in museums. This episode is not about the familiar myth of making it, but the mystery of not making it. What happens, to an artist—to anyone—when they’re good enough, but that’s not enough?If you like the show, subscribe to Decoder Ring on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jul 9, 2021 • 1h 6min
One Year: Anita Bryant's War on Gay Rights
Slate's new podcast One Year and will introduce you to people and ideas that changed American history--one year at a time. The show is hosted by Josh Levin, Slate's national editor and host of Slow Burn Season 4. And our first season covers 1977: a year when gay rights hung in the balance, Roots dominated the airwaves, and Jesus appeared on a tortilla.In this show, we’ll focus on key moments that transformed politics, culture, science, religion, and more. This episode you’re about to hear will take you into a courtroom in Miami, Florida, where a local fight over gay rights was about to become a huge national standoff, one with life-altering stakes for millions of Americans. And at the center of it all was a pop singer and orange juice spokesperson named Anita Bryant.How does the nation’s past shape our present? Subscribe to One Year on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
