Fiasco, a Luminary Original Podcast hosted by Leon Neyfakh, returns for Season 3
New York, NY, August 13, 2020 - Luminary, a subscription podcast network, today launched Season 3 of the hit original podcast series, Fiasco, from host Leon Neyfakh and executive producer Andrew Parsons.
As America continues to grapple with racial injustice, and school reopenings amid COVID-19 shine a light on inequality in our education system, Fiasco’s third season gives much-needed historical context surrounding race and education in the U.S. by taking a closer look at one city’s attempt to desegregate its schools: the so-called Boston busing crisis of the 1970s.
For more than a decade, the city of Boston played host to a civil rights movement dedicated to integrating the city’s public schools, culminating in a court order directing Boston to begin a busing program. The order led to two years of continuous racial violence, as white anti-busing activists tried to stall integration. By the time the worst of it was over, Boston’s experience with desegregation was widely regarded as a cautionary tale -- and it represented a massive setback to the civil rights movement.
On Season 3 of Fiasco, Neyfakh’s narration transports listeners to the day-to-day of Boston’s desegregation efforts, as he seeks to understand the collision of two social movements -- the movement for education equality and the movement against “busing” -- as well as the individuals who steered them from behind the scenes. Over 7 episodes, the third season of Fiasco reveals what the forgotten twists and turns of this pivotal moment in American history have to do with the present we all still live in.
Fiasco is a podcast about the biggest, most consequential political events in history. The second season of Fiasco – which won two 2020 Webby Awards for Documentary Podcast and for Best Podcast Writing – brought the story of Iran-Contra back to life, while sounding a familiar echo to current political and international events. And the first season of Fiasco told the story of the 2000 U.S. Presidential election and the Florida recount – a 36-day saga that paralyzed the nation as millions of captivated Americans waited to find out who would be their next president.
Each season of Fiasco immerses listeners in a story they may think they know, but which is in fact rich with surprises, unfamiliar subplots, and characters that have been written out of public consciousness. Fiasco makes sense of complex narratives, delivering big ideas and small details with a sensibility that is both entertaining and nuanced. By revisiting the past and seeing it through modern eyes, Fiasco puts "then" in dialogue with "now" and reveals that history is just as riveting and unpredictable as today's news.
About Leon Neyfakh
Leon Neyfakh is a journalist, author and documentarian best known for Fiasco and for co-creating the popular Slate podcast, Slow Burn – which has been adapted into a TV docuseries, hosted by Neyfakh, and is currently streaming on the Epix network. Before joining Slate, he worked as the Ideas reporter for the Boston Globe. Neyfakh is also the author of The Next Next Level: A Story of Rap, Friendship, and Almost Giving Up, a book about Juiceboxxx, a rapper from Wisconsin.
About Andrew Parsons
Andrew Parsons is an award winning audio producer and the executive producer of Prologue Projects. Andrew got his start in audio production while working as New York City teacher in 2007, reporting and producing an audio documentary about special education in the charter school system. Since then, his work has been featured on Marketplace, Studio 360 and Snap Judgment, among other outlets. He's been the senior producer at the history podcast BackStory and co-created and produced the first two seasons of the Slate podcast Slow Burn.
Media Contacts: