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Fiasco: The AIDS Crisis

By: Leon Neyfakh, Andrew Parsons, Sam Graham-Felsen, Madeline Kaplan, Ula Kulpa, Prologue Projects
Narrated by: Leon Neyfakh
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Politics & Government
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Episodes
  • Trailer

    Trailer
    Feb 22 2022

    From the co-creators of Slow Burn, Fiasco is a narrative podcast that transports listeners into the day-to-day reality of America’s most pivotal historical events.

    Using original interviews with dozens of key players, host Leon Neyfakh brings to life the forgotten twists and turns of the past while shedding light on the present day. The new season of Fiasco goes deep on the AIDS epidemic in America, with a special focus on the early years of the crisis, when a diagnosis was tantamount to a death sentence. The eight-part series looks at the mystery and missteps around identifying and treating a new, contagious disease, and what it took to get the public - and the government - to care.
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    1 min
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  • Episode 1: Gay Plague

    Episode 1: Gay Plague
    Mar 24 2022

    How doctors and scientists responded to the arrival of a strange and terrifying new disease.

    You can find a list of books, articles, and documentaries we used in our research at bit.ly/fiascopod
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    49 mins
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  • Episode 2: How to Have Sex in an Epidemic

    Episode 2: How to Have Sex in an Epidemic
    Mar 31 2022

    As the AIDS crisis worsens, gay men in New York City improvise a response, forming alliances and drawing battle lines.

    You can find a list of books, articles, and documentaries we used in our research at bit.ly/fiascopod
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    49 mins
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About the Creator and Performer

Leon Neyfakh is a New York-based journalist best known as the co-creator and original host of the award-winning Slow Burn podcast, in which he told the stories of Watergate and the Clinton impeachment. Since starting Fiasco in 2019, Neyfakh has hosted podcasts on Bush v. Gore, the Boston "busing" crisis, the Benghazi scandal, and the Iran-Contra affair, which has been adapted as a documentary series on EPIX. Before turning to audio, Neyfakh was a print reporter for Slate, The Boston Globe, and The New York Observer. He's the author of the book The Next Next Level.

Featured Article: 10 of the Best New Podcasts of 2022


It was another great year for podcasts, with a remarkable rise in both production quality and quantity of listening gems. Whether factual or anecdotal, sensational or deadpan, podcasts have a unique way of catering to any niche, no matter how specific. We were lucky to hear a lot of new podcasts this year, from the scripted and immersive to more relaxed, conversational pods, but we managed to narrow them down to the 10 most impactful and influential among our editors and listeners.

Featured Article 10 of the Best New Podcasts of 2022

What listeners say about Fiasco: The AIDS Crisis

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Profile Image for Lisa R

Excellent!

This podcast is excellent; Leon is a fantastic narrator! A definite must listen !

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Profile Image for Joseph M Giordano

Listen to this!

Everyone should listen to this. Never forget!!!!!! AIDS is still an issue. This was an excellent general history of AIDS in the U.S.

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Profile Image for Rosalba

A podcast that EVERYONE should listen to!

Extremely well done and informative. I hope everyone could listen to this and learn from this pivotal chapter of our history

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Profile Image for MB

Why it is important to remember

On a hot humid New Orleans summer afternoon in 1981. I entered my local coffee shop the owner handed me the NYT article she saved for me. "Rare Cancer Seen in 41 Homosexuals" My reaction was this is IMPOSSIBLE!

Now many decades later and seeing another pandemic; we did not learn the lessons from the Fiasco of The AIDS Crisis. I'm still fighting as a survivor. Every friend, lover, and Gay man that I knew in 1981 is dead. There is a lesson to be learned here. Tell the story about survival, learn from those mistakes. Be active and fight for all. The phrase Public Health heath for all.

I want to share a personal thank you to Dr. Greene interviewed here. You helped renew my spirit to fight.

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Profile Image for Martha Garvey

Stunning and essential

A complex, well-reported, and deeply humane series about our *last* pandemic. While some of the stories in "Fiasco" earn it its title, there are an equal number of heroes to be inspired by. I lived and grieved through that era, and yet I raced through "Fiasco" as if it were a thriller. It really is that good.

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Profile Image for Tanya

ampliación de vocabulario

excelente si te gusta el inglés y quieres aprender a ampliar es un buena opción

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Profile Image for Alaskan Mountain biker

At the very least, speak of the Great One

Dr. Fauci, and his abhorant role in this debacle, would have lent a great deal towards explaining how badly this was handled. We can always look back and see better what mistakes were made, but he had and still has, such an exaggerated abstraction of his own superiority.
This book was much needed.

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Profile Image for Chelsea

Such a well produced, educational, important podcast

My headline summarizes how I feel about it, but I binge listened in one day while doing yard work and I learned so much. An incredible podcast that everyone should listen to.

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1 person found this helpful

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Profile Image for Brian Irwin

Wow and thanks…

I came of age in the era of HIV/AIDS. It shaped my sexual identity and deepened the difficulties of coming out not only to others but also, and more damaging, to myself. This podcast has helped me understand why I was swimming in confusion about being gay and gay sexuality. When I first heard about AIDS, I was 11, and I knew that was how I would die; I was convinced of it…at 11. Listening to this podcast, I felt a sense of relief, I let my 11 year old self off the hook. At any rate, thank you.

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Profile Image for Kassandra Rancourt

Eye opening

This podcast was eye opening to me. I was so young when the AIDS epidemic broke out I didn’t know what was going on. Very disheartening to see where we’re at still with this crisis everyone forgot about.

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