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
51
One Year: 1990 | 3. Bush vs. Broccoli
When the president declared war on a vegetable, the country lost its mind.
36 min
52
One Year: 1990 | 2. Mandrake the Magician
How a single dad with a secret identity took on Big Tobacco.
46 min
53
One Year: 1990 | 1. Pizzastroika
As the Cold War reached its climax, Pizza Hut got tangled up in geopolitics—and made a lot of dough.
53 min
54
Decoder Ring: The Forgotten Video Game About Sl...
In 1992, the company behind The Oregon Trail tried to simulate Black history. It did not go well.
43 min
55
Decoder Ring: The Dating Manual Unlike Any Other
The Rules became a controversial bestseller and sparked instant debate. But was the advice any good?
33 min
56
Decoder Ring: Mailbag - The Recorder, Limos, an...
We answer your questions about the ubiquitous musical instrument, ‘80s automotive luxury, and more.
36 min
57
Decoder Ring: When Art Pranksters Invaded Melro...
In the mid-1990s, an artist collective smuggled its provocative work onto the set of the hit TV show.
37 min
58
Decoder Ring: The Fast Decline of the Slow Dance
The rise and fall of an awkward rite of passage.
41 min
59
One Year: 1955 | 6. The Hiroshima Maidens
A decade after the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb, 25 Japanese women put their lives in the hands of American surgeons.
50 min
60
One Year: 1955 | 5. The Cutter Incident
In 1955, the polio vaccine was rightly heralded as a miracle. A medical mystery threatened to derail it.
32 min
61
One Year: 1955 | 4. Siberia, USA
The Communist-hunting housewives who spawned a far-right conspiracy theory about an American gulag.
51 min
62
One Year: 1955 | 3. The Weather Girls
In the 1950s, women weathercasters were idolized and lusted over. They were also seen as a major threat.
41 min
63
One Year: 1955 | 2. The Crockett Craze
How Walt Disney created the first baby-boom phenomenon totally by accident.
53 min
64
One Year: 1955 | 1. The Team Nobody Would Play
In 1955, a team of Black Little Leaguers battled the white establishment in the Deep South.
53 min
65
Decoder Ring: Think Catchphrases Are Dead? Eat ...
Bless up: It’s a whole episode about “Doh!”, “Dealbreaker!” and “Did I do that?”
36 min
66
Decoder Ring: The Quest for a Homemade Hovercraft
With his scouting days long over, a Slate producer enlists his dad for one last merit badge.
38 min
67
Decoder Ring: A Brief History of Making Out
Is deep kissing a universal human behavior?
32 min
68
Decoder Ring: The Great Parmesan Cheese Debate
Is a Wisconsin version more authentic than its beloved Italian counterpart?
40 min
69
Decoder Ring: What's Really Going On Inside a M...
The etiquette, science and enduring appeal of a concertgoing ritual.
30 min
70
S8 Live Announcement & Bonus Conversation
Host Joel Anderson is interviewed by Slate's Dahlia Lithwick.
25 min
71
Becoming Justice Thomas | 4. A National Disgrace
What if Anita Hill hadn’t been the only woman who testified against Clarence Thomas?
62 min
72
Becoming Justice Thomas | 3. I’m Their Guy
To understand who Clarence Thomas was in the 1980s, you need to hear from the women who knew him best.
51 min
73
Becoming Justice Thomas | 2. Smiling Faces
Racial preferences gave Clarence Thomas a leg up. They also made him feel degraded.
45 min
74
Becoming Justice Thomas | 1. America’s Blackest...
How Clarence Thomas went from an aspiring priest to a campus radical.
50 min
75
Season 8 Trailer: Becoming Justice Thomas
Coming May 31st.
2 min