A podcast that will stop you in your tracks
Long Shadow, hosted by Garrett Graff, returns for a third season that chronicles the epidemic of violence surrounding America’s gun debate.
Do you remember where you were during the Columbine High School massacre? It’s not the usual “where were you?” question that people ask. But many Americans can recall exactly where they were 25 years ago this month. That’s because the unimaginable happened on April 20, 1999, and it changed, well, everything.
Pulitzer finalist historian, journalist, and podcast host Garrett M. Graff remembers the day clearly. “I was in my own senior year of high school, home on my April school vacation that week. We didn't have social media to hear of breaking news, and cell phones weren't that common in early 1999,” he tells listeners in the first episode of Long Shadow: In Guns We Trust, released on all major podcast platforms today.
“Instead, I heard the news from my dad who was a reporter for the Associated Press in Vermont, who called the house phone in the kitchen to tell me to turn on the news,” Garrett adds.
It was at this the moment that the U.S. unknowingly entered the era of mass shootings. A quarter century later, the horrors of Columbine and all the gun violence since — much of it in public areas once considered safe havens, including schools, movie theaters, and houses of worship — have irrevocably altered our country in plenty of ways.
To be clear, Long Shadow: In Guns We Trust is not solely about the tragedy at Columbine. The podcast covers historical events large and small to tell the story of story of a uniquely American problem: How did the U.S. become both a bastion of freedom and a land of lockdowns? How did we become so divided over guns? And how can we ever find a way forward?
It takes listeners on a journey spanning generations of U.S. history to tell the stories of people who changed America’s relationship to guns, for better or worse.
Listen to episode one of Long Shadow: In Guns We Trust.
With each new season of Long Shadow, Long Lead aims to raise the bar. Season one, 9/11’s Lingering Questions, won a Signal Award for Best History Podcast. Last season’s Rise of the American Far Right is competing for a Webby Award in the Best Limited Series Podcast, News & Politics category — and it remains shockingly relevant a year after its release, as another Trump presidential campaign leaks even more vitriolic rhetoric into the political atmosphere.
This season, reported in collaboration with non-profit gun violence newsroom The Trace, In Guns We Trust tells the story of America’s gun violence epidemic with unparalleled authority. From inside the halls of Congress to behind the scenes at the NRA, The Trace’s award-winning journalists have covered this vital topic better than anyone else, and Long Lead is proud to highlight their work and voices.
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Long Lead earned three Webby nominations in three different types of media, which is quite the feat. Our mission is to produce the highest-quality journalism, without compromise. Help us raise the bar in news — vote for our productions, today:
Long Shadow: Rise of the American Far Right, Best Limited Series Podcast, News & Politics
The Catch: Best Individual Editorial Feature
Lifting Ukraine: Best Use of Photography
Long Shadow continues to be produced in partnership with Campside Media, whose podcasting mastery has both delighted and challenged listeners with some of the medium’s best shows. We’re also proud to add PRX to this season’s credits. PRX is one of the world’s top podcast publishers, public radio distributors, and audio producers and is shaping a vibrant future for creative and journalistic audio. We’re honored that Long Shadow now is a part of it.
We understand how challenging it can be to listen to a show like Long Shadow: In Guns We Trust, but we know it’s a conversation we should be having nationally — especially in an election year. It can be a hopeful discussion, as Garrett reveals in an interview with Parker Molloy in Long Lead’s Depth Perception newsletter. “Change is slow, it’s not as fast as we would like,” he says. “But there is hope for America to be smarter about guns and to enact some smart gun safety legislation and rules.”
So long for now,
John Patrick Pullen
Founding Editor, Long Lead
PS: Don’t forget to read Garrett Graff’s newsletter Doomsday Scenario. In addition to getting Garrett’s thoughts on Long Shadow, you’ll get behind-the-scenes information on his books which range from an oral history of 9/11 to the inside story of the U.S. government’s search for alien life. His next book, When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day, publishes June 4 and is available for pre-order now.
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