Shows / Slow Burn
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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Episodes
Slow BurnThe Road to the Iraq War | 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…
Slow BurnThe Road to the Iraq War | 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…
Slow BurnExtra: 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…
Slow BurnThe Road to the Iraq War | 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…
Slow BurnThe Road to the Iraq War | 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?…
Slow BurnThe Road to the Iraq War | 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…
Slow BurnThe Road to the Iraq War | 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…
Slow BurnSeason 5 Trailer: The Road to the Iraq War
In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq without provocation. Most Americans supported the war—as did most politicians and intellectuals, both liberal and…
Slow BurnIntroducing: 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…
Slow BurnExtra: What We Can Learn From 1991
A few excerpts from Season 4's bonus interviews, and a special Slow Burn announcement. Want more Slow Burn? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately access all…
Slow BurnDavid Duke | 6. A Concerned Citizen
This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock exclusive Slow Burn episodes, but you’ll…
Slow BurnDavid Duke | 5. The Road to Hell
This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock exclusive Slow Burn episodes, but you’ll…
Slow BurnDavid Duke | 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…
Slow BurnDavid Duke | 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…
Slow BurnDavid Duke | 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…
Slow BurnDavid Duke | 1. White Knight
In the first half of the 1980s, it looked like David Duke’s career as a professional racist was over. But the former Ku Klux Klan leader had a comeback plan…
Slow BurnSeason 4 Trailer: David Duke
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a white supremacist became an American political phenomenon. David Duke’s rise to power and prominence—his election to the…
Slow BurnLive: Party & Bullshit
A special edition of Slow Burn features Joel Anderson live on stage, with legendary producers Nashiem Myrick and Easy Moe Bee, and Reverend Conrad Tillard…
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Announcement: Slow Burn's Watergate Season on TV
Slow Burn's Watergate season is now a TV docu-series, premiering Feb. 16 on Epix. Read more about it in this interview with host Leon Neyfakh. Need to set up…
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Introducing: Broken Record
Hey Slow Burn listeners. We have something special for you this week. It's an episode of Broken Record, a music podcast from Pushkin Industries, co-hosted by…
Slow BurnBiggie and Tupac | Epilogue: Got a Story to Tell
Slate Plus members get a bonus episode of Slow Burn every week. This is a preview of the bonus episodes released this season:—interviews with Slow Burn host…
Slow BurnBiggie and Tupac | 8. Dead Wrong
Questions have swirled around the murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls ever since their deaths. Who killed them, and why? How come no one was ever charged…
Slow BurnBiggie and Tupac | 7. To Live and Die in LA
In this week's episode: After Tupac’s murder: Revenge killings in Compton, a day of atonement in Harlem, and Biggie Smalls risks everything by going back to…
Slow BurnBiggie and Tupac | 6. Til Somebody Kills You
In this episode: In the summer of 1996, Tupac Shakur seemed to be on the verge of a decision—about what kind of career he wanted to have, and what kind of life…
Slow BurnBiggie and Tupac | Plus: "East vs. West"
In this Slow Burn bonus episode, host Joel Anderson and producer Christopher Johnson discuss the growing feud between Tupac and Biggie and the role of Faith…
Slow BurnBiggie and Tupac | 5. Wrath of a Menace
In this episode: Tupac claims—loudly, publicly, and with very little evidence—that he’s been sleeping with Faith Evans, Biggie’s estranged wife. Want more Slow…
Slow BurnBiggie and Tupac | 4. Against Those Thugs
In this episode: Gangsta rap becomes a huge money maker. Civil rights activist C. Delores Tucker and conservative culture warrior Bill Bennett launch a crusade…
Slow BurnBiggie and Tupac | 3. What's Beef?
In this episode: Biggie releases “Who Shot Ya,” an instant hip-hop classic that Tupac takes as a personal affront. Tupac calls out Biggie and Puffy in a…
Slow BurnBiggie and Tupac | 2. Cops on My Tail
In 1992, Ronald Ray Howard shot and killed Texas state trooper Bill Davidson. His lawyer argued he’d been driven to murder by the music he’d been playing in…
Slow BurnBiggie and Tupac | 1. Against the World
On the first episode of Slow Burn’s third season: How a violent robbery severed Tupac’s friendship with Biggie Smalls and sparked a bicoastal beef that…
Slow BurnSeason 3 Trailer: Biggie and Tupac
In its first two seasons, Slow Burn looked back at two of the biggest stories of the late 20th century—the Watergate scandal and the impeachment of Bill…
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Introducing The Queen
Linda Taylor was a con artist, a kidnapper, maybe even a murderer. She was also America’s original “welfare queen,” the villain Ronald Reagan needed to create…
Slow BurnSlow Burn Live: The Kingdom and the Power
A special edition of Slow Burn features Leon Neyfakh live on stage. In the second of two episodes, Leon was joined in by Emily Bazelon, Wesley Morris, Dan…
Slow BurnSlow Burn Live: Keyholes
A special edition of Slow Burn features Leon Neyfakh live on stage. In the first of two episodes, Leon was joined in by Ruth Marcus and Rick Perlstein to…
Slow BurnThe Clinton Impeachment | 8. Move On
Juanita Broaddrick told Ken Starr’s team of prosecutors that Bill Clinton had raped her in 1978. Her story wasn’t included in the Starr Report—but members of…
Slow BurnThe Clinton Impeachment | Secret Tracks
Every week, Slate Plus members get a special episode of Slow Burn in which Leon Neyfakh talks to people connected with the Clinton impeachment saga. This week…
Slow BurnThe Clinton Impeachment | 7. Bedfellows
Today it’s conventional wisdom that all feminists hypocritically turned their backs on Monica Lewinsky. In fact, the scandal provoked an intense debate within…
Slow BurnThe Clinton Impeachment | 6. God Mode
Some of the most withering criticism of Clinton came from a coalition of conservative activists whose political views were bound up with their faith. The…
Slow BurnThe Clinton Impeachment | 5. Tell-All
Aside from Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, the most pivotal player in the Clinton impeachment saga may have been Linda Tripp—an ordinary person who made…
Slow BurnThe Clinton Impeachment | 4. Alone, Together
What happened between Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky? Why did it happen? And what are we supposed to do about the fact that the whims and impulses of…
Slow BurnThe Clinton Impeachment | 3. Cred
When Bill Clinton went to Washington, rumors and accusations from his Arkansas past went with him. But even his most dedicated political enemies couldn't…
Slow BurnThe Clinton Impeachment | 2. There There
In 1993, Bill and Hillary Clinton moved into the White House on a swell of optimism. In less than a year, the new administration was mired in a sea of…
Slow BurnThe Clinton Impeachment | 1. Deal or No Deal
For 11 hours, Monica Lewinsky faced off against federal prosecutors who wanted her to help them take down the president and threatened her with decades in…
Slow BurnSeason 2 Trailer: The Clinton Impeachment
The saga of Bill Clinton’s impeachment is rich with forgotten characters, surprising subplots, and opportunities to reflect on just how much America has…
Slow BurnWatergate | Live in New York
A special edition of Slow Burn features Leon Neyfakh live on stage in New York City. On April 19th, Leon was joined by Bob Woodward, Virginia Heffernan, Gail…
Slow BurnWatergate | 8. Going South
What had to happen for the Watergate scandals to end Richard Nixon’s career? And was his downfall inevitable? In the final episode of Slow Burn’s first season…
Slow BurnExtra, Extra
Slate Plus members get a bonus episode of Slow Burn every week. This week, we're releasing some samples of those episodes—interviews with people with a unique…
Slow BurnWatergate | 7. Saturday Night
What did Richard Nixon do when he felt the walls closing in? How did the country respond? And what did it feel like when people finally got to hear those…
Slow BurnWatergate | 6. Rabbit Holes
Why were so many Americans ready to believe conspiracy theories after Watergate? How did those beliefs help trigger Nixon‘s downfall? And given what we know…
Slow BurnWatergate | 5. True Believers
At a bar in Queens, and in the Senate offices, Nixon's supporters stood with him long after it was clear his hands were dirty. How did they rationalize their…
Slow BurnWatergate | 4. Lie Detectors
How a folksy segregationist senator, a team of young investigators, and a few whistleblowers staged the hearings that made Watergate must-see TV. Want more…
Slow BurnWatergate | 3. A Very Successful Cover-Up
Woodward and Bernstein, Walter Cronkite, and a host of other journalists tried to make people care about Watergate in the run-up to the 1972 election. They…
Slow BurnWatergate | 2. The Defeat of Wright Patman
In 1973, the Senate Watergate hearings gripped the nation. But the first congressional hearings on the scandal took place a year earlier—and featured an angry…
Slow BurnWatergate | 1. Martha
People called her crazy, and to be fair she must have seemed crazy. But she was onto something. How Martha Mitchell, the celebrity wife of one of Nixon’s…
Slow BurnSeason 1 Trailer: Watergate
It took two years for the Watergate scandal to unfold—for a break-in at the Democratic Party's headquarters to go from a weird little caper to a constitutional…