Fiasco: Benghazi unpacks the 2012 attack in Libya that left four Americans dead, including Ambassador Chris Stevens—and the ensuing political storm, which raised questions about America’s role in the world, established a playbook to weaponize attention in the social media age, and ultimately changed the course of U.S. history.

For a list of books, documentaries and resources we used to research this season visit: bit.ly/fiascopolitics

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Introducing a new podcast from WBEZ Chicago, Making: Stories Without End. Soap operas have long been trivialized as low-brow women’s entertainment. Even the term “soap” is pejorative when describing television. But there’s a deeper story to tell about the genre that changed storytelling on the small screen.

In this episode, you’ll hear about Irna Phillips, the Chicago woman who birthed the daytime serial for radio in the 1930s and ushered it onto television in the 1950s. Phillips established staples in the genre like the cliff-hanger; she was a prolific writer who knew the daytime audience wanted to see their own problems in stories. As she summed it up in 1947: “[T]heir own conflicts, their own heartache, their hopes and their own dreams. Everything isn't happiness, is it? No.”

Follow the rest of the season by searching Making: Stories Without End.  

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How George H.W. Bush ended Iran-Contra.

For a list of books, documentaries and resources we used to research this episode visit: bit.ly/fiascopolitics

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How Hollywood tried to capitalize on Iran-Contra -- and why the story didn’t take.

For a list of books, documentaries and resources we used to research this episode visit: bit.ly/fiascopolitics

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How the Iran-Contra hearings made Oliver North an icon, and got Ronald Reagan off the hook.

For a list of books, documentaries and resources we used to research this episode visit: bit.ly/fiascopolitics

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How the Reagan administration tried to prevent the Iran scandal from becoming a second Watergate.

For a list of books, documentaries and resources we used to research this episode visit: bit.ly/fiascopolitics

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A bonus interview with journalists Martha Honey and Tony Avirgan. Honey and Avirgan tell Leon about their time reporting on the Contra war from the southern front in Costa Rica.

For a list of books, documentaries and resources we used to research this season visit: bit.ly/fiascopolitics

Subscribe to Pushkin+ to hear the entire season of Fiasco: Iran Contra, ad-free, right now. Find Pushkin+ on the Fiasco show page in Apple Podcasts or at Pushkin.fm.

Subscribe on Apple: apple.co/pushkin
Subscribe on Pushkin: pushkin.fm/plus

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How Oliver North decided to do a little multitasking -- and ended up on a plane to Tehran.

For a list of books, documentaries and resources we used to research this episode visit: bit.ly/fiascopolitics

Subscribe to Pushkin+ to hear the entire season of Fiasco: Iran Contra, ad-free, right now. Find Pushkin+ on the Fiasco show page in Apple Podcasts or at Pushkin.fm.

Subscribe on Apple: apple.co/pushkin
Subscribe on Pushkin: pushkin.fm/plus

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How the United States got involved in a not-so-secret secret war in Nicaragua.

For a list of books, documentaries and resources we used to research this episode visit: bit.ly/fiascopolitics

Subscribe to Pushkin+ to hear the entire season of Fiasco: Iran Contra, ad-free, right now. Find Pushkin+ on the Fiasco show page in Apple Podcasts or at Pushkin.fm.

Subscribe on Apple: apple.co/pushkin
Subscribe on Pushkin: pushkin.fm/plus

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How the Reagan administration landed in a hostage crisis…and extended a hand to one of America’s sworn enemies.

For a list of books, documentaries and resources we used to research this episode visit: bit.ly/fiascopolitics

Subscribe to Pushkin+ to hear the entire season of Fiasco: Iran Contra, ad-free, right now. Find Pushkin+ on the Fiasco show page in Apple Podcasts or at Pushkin.fm.

Subscribe on Apple: apple.co/pushkin
Subscribe on Pushkin: pushkin.fm/plus

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.