Things Fell Apart podcast

Things Fell Apart

If you've ever yelled at someone on social media about, say, cancel culture or mask-wearing, then you are a soldier in the culture wars - those everyday battles for dominance between conflicting values. The acclaimed writer and podcaster Jon Ronson has seen friends swallowed up in them to the extent that it's ruined their lives. Jon was curious to learn how things fell apart, and so he went back into the history of the culture wars to find some of the origin stories: the pebbles thrown in the pond, creating the ripples that led us to where we are today. He had no idea what he'd find, but he's uncovered some extraordinary people and the strangest, yet most consequential tales.

If you've ever yelled at someone on social media about, say, cancel culture or mask-wearing, then you are a soldier in the culture wars - those everyday battles for dominance between conflicting values. The acclaimed writer and podcaster Jon Ronson has seen friends swallowed up in them to the extent that it's ruined their lives. Jon was curious to learn how things fell apart, and so he went back into the history of the culture wars to find some of the origin stories: the pebbles thrown in the pond, creating the ripples that led us to where we are today. He had no idea what he'd find, but he's uncovered some extraordinary people and the strangest, yet most consequential tales.

 

#22

S2. Bonus episode: An Audience with Jon Ronson

Jon Ronson’s second season of unexpected human stories from the culture wars focused on th... more

17 Jul 2024

27 MINS

27:25

17 Jul 2024


#21

S2. How Things Fell Apart, with Jon Ronson and Adam Buxton

In this bonus episode, Jon Ronson's friend and fellow podcaster Adam Buxton chat about the... more

13 Mar 2024

36 MINS

36:46

13 Mar 2024


#20

S2. Ep 8: Mikki’s Hero’s Journey

How a former actor and model, burned by Hollywood and devastated by the death of his broth... more

09 Jan 2024

37 MINS

37:09

09 Jan 2024


#19

S2. Ep 7: You’ll Own Nothing and You’ll Be Happy

How a young man with a novel idea for affordable accommodation, and an Oxford man with a p... more

09 Jan 2024

33 MINS

33:24

09 Jan 2024


#18

S2. Ep 6: A Hierarchy of Trauma

How a bestselling book about trauma - lockdown’s number one bestseller - helped the cultur... more

09 Jan 2024

33 MINS

33:08

09 Jan 2024


#17

S2. Ep 5: Things Weren’t Going Back to Normal

How a schism between a mother and her teenage daughter during lockdown contributed to Gove... more

09 Jan 2024

36 MINS

36:29

09 Jan 2024


#16

S2. Ep 4: Spicy Brando

How a disenfranchised young man, maddened by the strict lockdown laws in Michigan, joined ... more

09 Jan 2024

34 MINS

34:55

09 Jan 2024


#15

S2. Ep 3: Tonight’s the Night, Comrades

How an American media polarized over Antifa led to an innocent family on a Twilight-themed... more

09 Jan 2024

31 MINS

31:06

09 Jan 2024


#14

S2. Ep 2: We’re Coming After You, Honey

How a chance encounter in a yacht club in the early 2000s between a bartender and a very w... more

09 Jan 2024

33 MINS

33:59

09 Jan 2024


#13

S2. Ep 1: The Most Mysterious Deaths

How the mysterious deaths of 32 black sex workers in Miami in the 1980s led to a whole new... more

09 Jan 2024

34 MINS

34:29

09 Jan 2024


#12

S2. Things Fell Apart is back

Since Jon Ronson’s first series, new battle lines in the culture wars have been drawn. And... more

02 Jan 2024

03 MINS

03:12

02 Jan 2024


#11

S1. Bonus Episode: Jon Ronson Live at Hay

In front of a live audience at the Hay Festival 2023 in Wales, Jon Ronson and journalist a... more

05 Jul 2023

45 MINS

45:01

05 Jul 2023


#10

S1. How Things Fell Apart, with Jon Ronson and Louis Theroux

In this bonus episode of Things Fell Apart, Jon Ronson's friend and fellow documentary mak... more

30 Mar 2022

43 MINS

43:50

30 Mar 2022


#9

S1. Ep 8: A Mock Slave Auction

An incident of racist bullying on Snapchat is currently tearing apart a small town on a la... more

25 Jan 2022

36 MINS

36:15

25 Jan 2022


#8

S1. Ep 7: A Secret Room Behind a Fake Wall

It’s 2017. Late one night after a party a Hollywood actor plays a prank on a friend. But t... more

25 Jan 2022

32 MINS

32:44

25 Jan 2022


#7

S1. Ep 6: Many Different Lives

This story is about how the unique experiences of a little girl growing up unconventionall... more

25 Jan 2022

35 MINS

35:03

25 Jan 2022


#6

S1. Ep 5: A Scottish Jewish joke

This is the story of the very first person to be publicly shamed because of something they... more

25 Jan 2022

33 MINS

33:07

25 Jan 2022


#5

S1. Ep 4: Believe the Children

In the mid 1980s a new conspiracy theory proliferates across America - that cabals of Sata... more

25 Jan 2022

32 MINS

32:17

25 Jan 2022


#4

S1. Ep 3: A Miracle

It’s the early 1980s and a hugely popular television evangelist is having a crisis of cons... more

25 Jan 2022

33 MINS

33:12

25 Jan 2022


#3

S1. Ep 2: Dirty Books

1974. A church minister's wife in West Virginia learns of a brand new curriculum being int... more

25 Jan 2022

31 MINS

31:49

25 Jan 2022


#2

S1. Ep 1: 1000 Dolls

It's the early 1970s. Frank Schaeffer is an American kid living in the Swiss Alps – the so... more

25 Jan 2022

31 MINS

31:53

25 Jan 2022


#1

S1. Introducing Things Fell Apart

If you've ever yelled at someone on social media about, say, cancel culture or mask-wearin... more

05 Jan 2022

03 MINS

03:07

05 Jan 2022