Slow Burn

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.


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Season 10: The Rise of Fox News

How 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 Briggs

A 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 Thomas

Where 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. Wade

The 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. Riots

How 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 War

Eighteen 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 Duke

America’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 Tupac

How 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 Impeachment

A reexamination of the scandals that nearly destroyed the 42nd president and forever changed the life of a former White House intern.


Season 1: Watergate

What did it feel like to live through the scandal that brought down President Nixon?

History
Documentary
Politics
26
Season 10 Trailer: The Rise of Fox News
Coming Sept. 18
2 min
27
Decoder Ring: Chuck E. Cheese Pizza War (Encore)
In the 1980s, two restaurant chains duked it out to become the preeminent robot pizza arcade.
45 min
28
Decoder Ring: The Hysteria Over Mass Hysteria
It’s all in your head. Or is it?
33 min
29
Decoder Ring: Standing Up for Sitting Down
Sitting has, once again, stepped into the spotlight as a kind of villain.
35 min
30
Gays Against Briggs | The Story Behind Our Cove...
Host Christina Cauterucci interviews the activists who inspired this season's cover art.
27 min
31
Decoder Ring: The Secret Life of Lawn Ornaments
Gnomes, flamingos, and lawn jockeys—every garden decoration has a message for us.
44 min
32
Gays Against Briggs | Tribeca Festival Live Show
Host Christina Cauterucci interviews special guests at the 2024 Tribeca Festival.
95 min
33
Gays Against Briggs | 7. Turn Around. Fight Back.
After an infuriating verdict, gay San Franciscans took their anger to the streets.
47 min
34
Gays Against Briggs | 6. The Murders at City Hall
Thousands of activists gave everything to the Prop 6 campaign. Harvey Milk gave his life.
51 min
35
Gays Against Briggs | 5. Strange Bedfellows
In the 1970s, gay rights activists took a gamble—on Ronald Reagan.
50 min
36
Gays Against Briggs | 4. You Must Come Out
In the fight against John Briggs, desperate times called for a deeply personal tactic.
52 min
37
Gays Against Briggs | 3. Harvey Milk vs. the Ma...
How the unofficial mayor of Castro Street became the public face of the anti-Briggs campaign.
52 min
38
Gays Against Briggs | 2. Defend Our Children
John Briggs’ crusade against gay teachers tapped into a deep well of conservative anxiety.
48 min
39
Gays Against Briggs | 1. A Hotbed of Homosexuality
In the 1970s, California played host to the biggest gay rights fight the country had ever seen.
45 min
40
Season 9 Trailer: Gays Against Briggs
Coming May 22nd.
1 min
41
Decoder Ring: How the Jalapeño Lost Its Heat
For more than a century, Americans have been obsessed with Mexican food – and changed it.
29 min
42
Decoder Ring: Making Real Music for a Fake Band
The Broadway show ‘Stereophonic’ on how to construct the sound of the ’70s.
37 min
43
Decoder Ring: Can the “Bookazine” Save Magazines?
Why is there a magazine all about Robert Redford in the CVS checkout lane?
33 min
44
Decoder Ring: Andrew Wyeth's Secret Nudes (Encore)
Why did America’s favorite artist hide 240 pieces of artwork from his wife?
50 min
45
Decoder Ring: Why Stylists Rule the Red Carpet
Avery Trufelman and Melissa Rivers on what the fashion police hath wrought.
38 min
46
Decoder Ring: The Gen X Soda That Was Just "OK"
Thirty years ago, OK Soda arrived in select stores and offered up a fizzy irony.
39 min
47
Announcing Slow Burn Season 9
Gays Against Briggs
1 min
48
Decoder Ring: Why Do So Many Coffee Shops Look ...
Algorithms are shaping our world, even down to latte art.
29 min
49
One Year: 1990 | 5. The Angry Death of Kimberly...
A young woman claimed she got HIV from her dentist. Was she right?
52 min
50
One Year: 1990 | 4. Art on Trial
Inside the Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition that sparked a First Amendment showdown in Cincinnati.
54 min