Long Lead and PRX Partner for A New Season from Acclaimed History Podcast “Long Shadow,” Chronicling America’s Gun Debate and the Epidemic of Violence Around It
Hosted by Pulitzer finalist Garrett M. Graff, “Long Shadow: In Guns We Trust” also features reporting from The Trace
Longform journalism outlet Long Lead and Campside Media are teaming up again, this time with award-winning public media organization PRX and The Trace for season three of the acclaimed history podcast, Long Shadow.
Reported and narrated by Pulitzer-finalist journalist, historian, and Watergate: A New History author Garrett M. Graff, Long Shadow: In Guns We Trust recounts how firearms went from being an ordinary part of rural American life to a menacing element of modern society. In the multi-part podcast series, Graff will take listeners on a journey spanning generations of U.S. history, exploring the stories of people who changed America’s relationship to guns, for better or worse.
The new season of Long Shadow premieres April 9, 2024 ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting on April 20. Long Shadow: In Guns We Trust is available free across all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Pocket Casts, Overcast, and iHeart.
“The modern story of guns in America started 25 years ago this month, on April 20th, 1999,” says Graff. “Overnight, the word ‘Columbine’ — a name taken from a beautiful wildflower prevalent in the Colorado plains — became synonymous with tragedy, shorthand for a scourge that would befall dozens more communities in the years ahead.”
Long Shadow: In Guns We Trust also features in-depth reporting from The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to covering gun violence. This special collaboration will help listeners understand how 21st-century America, clad in both camouflage and Kevlar, has become both a bastion of freedom and a land of lockdowns.
Hailed as “rigorous, authoritative and an electrifying listen” by the Financial Times and averaging 4.9 stars from reviewers, Long Shadow hit the top of Apple Podcasts’ history chart after its debut. Crackling with rich archival tape and riveting eyewitness and expert interviews, the narrative podcast has won Signal Awards for each of its last two seasons while examining vital threads of history relevant to our current political climate.
Season one of the podcast — Long Shadow: 9/11’s Lingering Questions — was released in 2021, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil, and explored the enduring mysteries surrounding that day. Season two — Long Shadow: Rise of the American Far Right — chronicled how bloody tragedies at the hands of federal agents led to the rise of American domestic extremism and ultimately the January 6 insurrection. Season three — Long Shadow: In Guns We Trust — reveals how a very specific, carefully manufactured fear has driven explosive demand for guns across America.
About Long Lead
Long Lead is an award-winning story studio focused on finding, funding, producing, and publishing original, in-depth journalism. In addition to funding the reporting, Long Lead contracts independent writers, photographers, filmmakers, and designers to produce best-in-class editorial products that have won Webby, Signal, and Sigma Delta Chi awards. With an eye for ambitious, groundbreaking stories, the outlet publishes work about any subject, in any medium, anywhere in the world. For more, visit www.longlead.com.
About PRX
Celebrating more than 20 years as a nonprofit public media company, PRX works in partnership with leading independent creators, organizations, and stations to bring meaningful audio storytelling into millions of listeners’ lives. PRX is one of the world’s top podcast publishers, public radio distributors, and audio producers, serving as an engine of innovation for public media and podcasting to help shape a vibrant future for creative and journalistic audio. Shows across PRX’s portfolio of broadcast productions, podcast partners, and its Radiotopia podcast network have received recognition from the Peabody Awards, the Tribeca Festival, the International Documentary Association, the National Magazine Awards, and more, including in 2022 when Futuro Media and PRX won a Pulitzer Prize. Visit PRX.org for more.
About The Trace
The Trace is a nonprofit newsroom exclusively dedicated to covering gun violence in America. Shootings devastate families and communities. Meanwhile, the gun violence crisis has been compounded by another: the shortage of high-quality information. As long as that’s the case, our best tools for understanding gun violence are the tools of journalism. Since our founding in 2015, we have used those tools to improve public understanding, increase accountability, and identify solutions that can lead to safer homes and communities for all Americans. Whether we are investigating the financial dealings of the National Rifle Association, elucidating the experiences of survivors of violence, or covering the sources of stolen guns, we do in-depth reporting that doesn’t let up after the latest high-profile shooting leaves the front pages. Find our award-winning journalism at www.thetrace.org.
About Campside Media
Campside is built around a collective of elite long-form magazine journalists with decades of award-winning reporting experience and a proven track record of breaking and shaping big, complex stories. Campside was built by narrative journalists, for narrative journalists — and for all the listeners who believe in the power of great storytelling. Its shows have been downloaded more than 50 million times and have landed on numerous best-of lists, including those released by Spotify, Stitcher, Apple, the New York Times, New York Magazine, and Rolling Stone. Visit www.campsidemedia.com for more.
