Slow Burn by Leon Neyfakh (review)

Season 1 of the podcast Slow Burn looks back at Watergate, one of the biggest scandals of recent US History, via speculation and oral histories of people involved with it. It starts out with a hook—introducing the "uncovered" players surrounding the Nixon administration during the scandal. Then it catches the listener up on details surrounding the political scandal through a narrative retelling of the situation by podcast creator and host, Slate journalist Leon Neyfakh. He discusses the developments of the event interspersed with audio clips from original interviews with people involved. He weaves his storytelling with these audio clips, supporting his arguments and lending himself credibility by having firsthand accounts of the occurrences aid in his narration. Slow Burn creates an engaging retelling of history, with just enough support from firsthand sources to seem trustworthy.

While many Americans are familiar with the outlines of Watergate as presented in All the President's Men, the perspectives of many key players and observers are less well-known. Neyfakh builds a narrative by recompiling neglected evidence and amplifying unsung voices, all while attempting to tell a 45-year-old political story and keep his audience engaged. He digs into the viewpoints of potentially key people overlooked in popular retellings of this gray period in American history, as well as the perspectives of average Americans who followed the unfolding scandal at the time, in an effort to assess the social climate of the era (https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2017/11/introducing-slow-burn-slates-new-podcast-about-watergate.html). Neyfakh's introductory article about the podcast draws a parallel between the recent rapid news cycle following multiple scandals in the Trump White House and the similar state of uncertainty occurring as the Watergate scandal unfolded. Yet throughout the podcast season, he allows listeners to draw their own conclusions about how Watergate relates to contemporary events while hinting at the connections between scandals past and present.

The host drives the podcast's dramatized retelling of the events surrounding the scandal and supports his narrative through curated excerpts of interviews and oral history sessions conducted shortly after the scandal. He also adds color through related pop culture of the time. For example, he includes an audio clip from the NBC comedy show Laugh-In where one of the comedians pretends to be Martha Mitchell, wife of John Mitchell, advisor to President Nixon. The show capitalizes on Martha's reputation as a gossip when the actress playing Martha wins a phone company award for using her telephone so much. The gag provokes laughs and pokes fun at the administration, but this reviewer feels that while it makes that section more enjoyable, it does not move the story forward. These bits do help balance the primary focus of Neyfakh's retelling of history, which he relays seriously through his emphasis on both facts and intrigue. Though not alive during Watergate, Neyfakh credits discovering Martha's involvement (the focus of the first episode) through a book and builds an entertaining version of history around her story.

Entertainment, mainly, motivates this podcast's creation that is produced by the online news magazine Slate and draws advertising revenue from its lineup of podcasts. If Neyfakh's goal is to put people in the shoes of Americans experiencing a major political scandal and upheaval, then he succeeds. The dramatic narrative coupled with a moody musical accompaniment guides the story from one section of the podcast to the next, instilling a sense of anticipation to the podcast. The narrative entertains, however, while oral history provides listeners with a sense of authenticity and trust in the narrator, which can be misleading through the selective curation of facts from the mouths of those interviewed. Moreover, the interviews are not full cuts but carefully selected pieces which support Neyfakh's interpretation of the scandal. Therefore, this reviewer feels unconvinced that listeners are getting the full picture. As the audio clips have been diced into such small soundbites and decontextualized to the point of...