Slow Burn
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.
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.
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Season 6 Trailer
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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
26 Oct 2021
02 MINS
02:26
26 Oct 2021
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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
20 Aug 2021
55 MINS
55:25
20 Aug 2021
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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
12 Aug 2021
57 MINS
57:24
12 Aug 2021
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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
10 Aug 2021
50 MINS
50:53
10 Aug 2021
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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
05 Aug 2021
59 MINS
59:54
05 Aug 2021
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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
02 Aug 2021
1 HR 02 MINS
1:02:14
02 Aug 2021
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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
29 Jul 2021
54 MINS
54:32
29 Jul 2021
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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
22 Jul 2021
1 HR 02 MINS
1:02:06
22 Jul 2021
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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
09 Jul 2021
1 HR 05 MINS
1:05:53
09 Jul 2021
S5 Ep. 8: Shock and Awe
The Bush administration didn’t just fail to plan for post-war Iraq. Before and during the invasion, they made choices that compounded the mistake of going to war. Those decisions had lasting consequences for the world and for the Iraqi people. Who’s most responsible for that tragedy? Slate Plus members get bonus episodes of Slow Burn and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Season 5 of Slow Burn is produced by Noreen Malone, Jayson De Leon, and Sophie Summergrad. Mixing by Merritt Jacob. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
16 Jun 2021
45 MINS
45:26
16 Jun 2021
S5 Ep. 7: Judy
In the months before the invasion of Iraq, the media mostly backed the Bush administration’s narrative about weapons of mass destruction. No reporter was more influential on that beat than the New York Times' Judith Miller. How did she get the story so wrong—and why was she the only person to take the fall? Slate Plus members get bonus episodes of Slow Burn and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Season 5 of Slow Burn is produced by Noreen Malone, Jayson De Leon, and Sophie Summergrad. Mixing by Merritt Jacob. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
09 Jun 2021
50 MINS
50:40
09 Jun 2021
S5 Ep.6: Big, if True
On Feb. 5, 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell went to the United Nations to make the Bush administration’s closing argument for war with Iraq. Powell didn’t know it at the time, but one major piece of intelligence he cited came from a shady source—a man code-named Curveball. How did Curveball’s bad information make it into Powell’s speech? And why did no one listen when a woman from the CIA tried to warn everyone? Slate Plus members get bonus episodes of Slow Burn and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Season 5 of Slow Burn is produced by Noreen Malone, Jayson De Leon, and Sophie Summergrad. Mixing by Merritt Jacob. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
02 Jun 2021
44 MINS
44:09
02 Jun 2021
S5 Ep.5: Four Dicks (and Vice President Cheney)
Four men in Congress—two from each party—helped determine whether President George W. Bush would be given the authority to invade Iraq. All of them were named Dick. Which of these Dicks scrutinized the case for war the most closely? And who was making obvious political calculations? Slate Plus members get bonus episodes of Slow Burn and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Season 5 of Slow Burn is produced by Noreen Malone, Jayson De Leon, and Sophie Summergrad. Mixing by Merritt Jacob. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
26 May 2021
48 MINS
48:58
26 May 2021
S5 Extra: More on the Road to Iraq
This week, we're highlighting a few excerpts from this season's Slate Plus episodes—interviews with Ann Curry, Slate writers and editors who blogged about the war in 2003, and people who personally knew Ahmad Chalabi. To listen to these interviews, learn more about the making of this season, skip all the ads, and support Slow Burn, sign up for Slate Plus now. It's only $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
19 May 2021
17 MINS
17:11
19 May 2021
S5 Ep.4: Fighting Words
In the year leading up the invasion, George W. Bush sketched his justification for the war: good vs. evil, us vs. them. The president wasn’t interested in fleshing out the details beyond that, but lots of other people were. How did intellectuals, on both the right and left, help bolster the Bush administration’s case for war? And how much responsibility should they bear for one of America’s deadliest mistakes? Season 5 of Slow Burn is produced by Noreen Malone, Jayson De Leon, and Sophie Summergrad. Mixing by Merritt Jacob. Slate Plus members get bonus episodes of Slow Burn and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
12 May 2021
47 MINS
47:51
12 May 2021
S5 Ep. 3: Mushroom Clouds
To start a war of choice, you need a casus belli—a case for war. Why did the Bush administration settle on weapons of mass destruction as their case for war? And how did they make that case to the American people? Season 5 of Slow Burn is produced by Noreen Malone, Jayson De Leon, and Sophie Summergrad. Mixing by Merritt Jacob. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
05 May 2021
45 MINS
45:33
05 May 2021
S5 Ep. 2: Terror
Just hours after 9/11, American decision makers had already started thinking about attacking Iraq. When the anthrax attacks began a month later, those ideas went into overdrive. Did Iraq have anything to do with mailing anthrax letters? Did it matter? Slate Plus members get bonus episodes of Slow Burn and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Season 5 of Slow Burn is produced by Noreen Malone, Jayson De Leon, and Sophie Summergrad. Mixing by Merritt Jacob. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
28 Apr 2021
47 MINS
47:31
28 Apr 2021
S5 Ep. 1: The Exile
Eighteen years have passed since the United States invaded Iraq. It’s a war that killed hundreds of thousands of people and destroyed America’s credibility on the world stage. How much can that war be traced to one Iraqi exile’s longstanding quest to return to Baghdad? Season 5 of Slow Burn is produced by Noreen Malone, Jayson De Leon, and Sophie Summergrad. Mixing by Merritt Jacob. Production help from Margaret Kelley. Slate Plus members get bonus episodes of Slow Burn and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
21 Apr 2021
52 MINS
52:40
21 Apr 2021
Season 5 Trailer
In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq without provocation. Most Americans supported the war—as did most politicians and intellectuals, both liberal and conservative. Today, it’s universally considered a disaster. Hosted by award-winning reporter Noreen Malone, the fifth season of Slow Burn explores the people and ideas that propelled the country into the Iraq war, and the institutions that failed to stop it. How did the Iraq catastrophe happen? And what was it like to watch America make one of its most consequential mistakes? Slow Burn Season 5 is hosted by Noreen Malone. Formerly, she was the editorial director of New York Magazine, and a host of Slate’s “The Waves.” Her magazine reporting has earned a George Polk Award. The season begins on Wednesday, April 21st. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
15 Apr 2021
02 MINS
02:07
15 Apr 2021
Introducing: I Spy
We're excited to introduce you to I Spy, a production of Foreign Policy. Each week on I Spy, a former intelligence operative from somewhere around the world tells the story of a single mission. They've featured guests from the CIA, Mossad, MI5, the KGB, and more. The host is three-time Emmy winner Margo Martindale, who played Claudia the KGB handler on FX’s hit show The Americans. In this first episode of season 3, DEA special agent Steve Murphy describes his role in the hunt for narco-terrorist Pablo Escobar in Colombia in the early 1990s. This is part one of a two-part episode. To hear part 2, make sure to look for I Spy wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
29 Jan 2021
28 MINS
28:54
29 Jan 2021
S4 Extra: What We Can Learn From 1991
A few excerpts from Season 4's bonus interviews, and a special Slow Burn announcement. Slate Plus members get bonus episodes of Slow Burn and ad-free episodes of all Slate podcasts. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
29 Oct 2020
32 MINS
32:24
29 Oct 2020
S4 Ep. 6: A Concerned Citizen
In the fall of 1991, David Duke looked like a real threat to become the governor of Louisiana. On the sixth and final episode of Slow Burn's fourth season: What arguments did David Duke's opponents make? Who did they hope to persuade? And what did it mean, in those four weeks in 1991, to stand up and be counted? Season 4 of Slow Burn is produced by Josh Levin and Christopher Johnson. Mixing by Paul Mounsey. Slow Burn’s production assistant is Madeline Ducharme and Sophie Summergrad is the podcast’s assistant producer. Slate Plus members get bonus episodes of Slow Burn and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
22 Jul 2020
1 HR 00 MINS
1:00:05
22 Jul 2020
S4 Ep. 5: The Road to Hell
Edwin Edwards was a towering force in Louisiana politics. Buddy Roemer dethroned him and promised to modernize the state. In 1991, David Duke challenged both of them—and was soon on the verge of the biggest victory of his life. In Episode 5 of Slow Burn: How a Louisiana governor’s race became one of the most consequential elections in modern American history. Season 4 of Slow Burn is produced by Josh Levin and Christopher Johnson. Mixing by Paul Mounsey. Slow Burn’s production assistant is Madeline Ducharme and Sophie Summergrad is the podcast’s assistant producer. Slate Plus members get bonus episodes of Slow Burn and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
15 Jul 2020
50 MINS
50:33
15 Jul 2020
S4 Ep. 4: A Silent Army
David Duke wasn’t content being a state representative. He wanted to go national, and in 1990 he expanded his base of white voters to try to attain that goal. In Episode 4 of Slow Burn: How David Duke made himself a political sensation—and the message that his supporters sent when they cast their ballots. Season 4 of Slow Burn is produced by Josh Levin and Christopher Johnson. Mixing by Paul Mounsey. Slow Burn’s production assistant is Madeline Ducharme and Sophie Summergrad is the podcast’s assistant producer. Slate Plus members get bonus episodes of Slow Burn and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
08 Jul 2020
50 MINS
50:47
08 Jul 2020
Cold Call
In 1989, a Black 12-year-old girl in New Orleans found the David Duke phenomenon, and Duke himself, hard to comprehend. So she called Duke on the phone to ask him some questions. In this Slow Burn interlude: how a budding journalist outdid the professionals. Plus, why we won’t be interviewing David Duke for our series. Season 4 of Slow Burn is produced by Josh Levin and Christopher Johnson. Mixing by Paul Mounsey. Slow Burn’s production assistant is Madeline Ducharme and Sophie Summergrad is the podcast’s assistant producer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
01 Jul 2020
25 MINS
25:42
01 Jul 2020
S4 Ep. 3: The Nazi and the Republicans
In 1989, David Duke got a foothold in American politics. To build on that victory, he’d have to fend off a Republican official determined to bring him down. In the third episode of our series: the people who tried to stop David Duke’s rise, and the ones who accommodated him. Season 4 of Slow Burn is produced by Josh Levin and Christopher Johnson. Mixing by Paul Mounsey. Slow Burn’s production assistant is Madeline Ducharme and Sophie Summergrad is the podcast’s assistant producer. Slate Plus members get bonus episodes of Slow Burn every season, plus zero ads. Sign up now to listen and support the show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
24 Jun 2020
54 MINS
54:13
24 Jun 2020
S4 Ep. 2: Robe and Ritual
David Duke dreamed of becoming the charismatic leader who’d bring racism to the masses. He tried to make that dream a reality by seizing on America’s most powerful symbol of white supremacist terror. On the second episode of Slow Burn’s fourth season: what David Duke’s years as a leader in the Ku Klux Klan reveal about his beliefs and ambitions, and why Duke decided to leave the Klan behind. Season 4 of Slow Burn is produced by Josh Levin and Christopher Johnson. Mixing by Paul Mounsey. Slow Burn’s production assistant is Madeline Ducharme and Sophie Summergrad is the podcast’s assistant producer. Slate Plus members get bonus episodes of Slow Burn every season, early access to episode 3, plus zero ads. Sign up now to listen and support the show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
17 Jun 2020
50 MINS
50:59
17 Jun 2020