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BBC Radio 4

If you've ever yelled at someone on social media about, say, cancel culture or mask-wearing, then you are a soldier in the culture wars - those everyday battles for dominance between conflicting values. The acclaimed writer and podcaster Jon Ronson has seen friends swallowed up in them to the extent that it's ruined their lives. Jon was curious to learn how things fell apart, and so he went back into the history of the culture wars to find some of the origin stories: the pebbles thrown in the pond, creating the ripples that led us to where we are today. He had no idea what he'd find, but he's uncovered some extraordinary people and the strangest, yet most consequential tales.

Things Fell Apart

If you've ever yelled at someone on social media about, say, cancel culture or mask-wearing, then you are a soldier in the culture wars - those everyday battles for dominance between conflicting values. The acclaimed writer and podcaster Jon Ronson has seen friends swallowed up in them to the extent that it's ruined their lives. Jon was curious to learn how things fell apart, and so he went back into the history of the culture wars to find some of the origin stories: the pebbles thrown in the pond, creating the ripples that led us to where we are today. He had no idea what he’d find, but he's uncovered some extraordinary people and the strangest, yet most consequential tales.

S1. Introducing Things Fell Apart

It's the early 1970s. Frank Schaeffer is an American kid living in the Swiss Alps – the son of an influential Christian art historian - who daydreams of one day making Hollywood films. But for that he needs a show-reel to prove himself. The ripples of Frank's creative ambitions will help trigger one of America's most violent culture wars around the legalization of abortion and Roe vs Wade.

Written and presented by Jon Ronson
Produced by Sarah Shebbeare
Original music by Phil Channell

S1. Ep 1: 1000 Dolls

1974. A church minister's wife in West Virginia learns of a brand new curriculum being introduced into her children's school. So she decides to read all 325 new textbooks herself. What she discovers horrifies her so much she instigates a State-wide insurrection. But were some of her concerns based on a misunderstanding?

Written and presented by Jon Ronson
Produced by Sarah Shebbeare
Assistant Producer Sam Peach
Original music by Phil Channell

With thanks to Trey Kay for helping us tell this story.

S1. Ep 2: Dirty Books

It’s the early 1980s and a hugely popular television evangelist is having a crisis of conscience. She wants Christian evangelism to be less bigoted. And so, to the horror of her peers, she invites a very unexpected guest onto her TV show…

Written and presented by Jon Ronson
Produced by Sarah Shebbeare
Original music by Phil Channell

Archive from the PTL network's 'Tammy's House Party' and the 'PTL Club'.

S1. Ep 3: A Miracle

In the mid 1980s a new conspiracy theory proliferates across America - that cabals of Satanists are secretly preying on children and polluting the culture. This ‘Satanic panic’ is a madness with bizarre and dreadful consequences – as an unsuspecting young woman in New Jersey is about to discover…

Written and presented by Jon Ronson
Produced by Sarah Shebbeare
Original music by Phil Channell

S1. Ep 4: Believe the Children

This is the story of the very first person to be publicly shamed because of something they did online. It’s 1988, the internet exists only in its most nascent form, and a software designer, Brad Templeton, uploads onto a message board a joke in poor taste. How the architects of the emerging internet respond to the joke will create a set of rules that the rest of us have lived under ever since…

Written and presented by Jon Ronson
Produced by Sarah Shebbeare
Assistant Producer Sam Peach
Original music by Phil Channell

S1. Ep 5: A Scottish Jewish joke

This story is about how the unique experiences of a little girl growing up unconventionally in America in the 1970s seismically changed the face of feminism in the 90s and beyond. It's a story too about the invention of a word - one that's contributed to a ferocious schism in the British culture wars.

Written and presented by Jon Ronson
Produced by Sarah Shebbeare
Original music by Phil Channell

S1. Ep 6: Many Different Lives

It’s 2017. Late one night after a party a Hollywood actor plays a prank on a friend. But the prank backfires terribly and the ripples are seismic - taking us inside Donald Trump’s White House and the Capitol insurrection of January 2021.

Written and presented by Jon Ronson
Produced by Sam Peach
Original music by Phil Channell

Archive with credit to:

Videos discussing Isaac Kappy: Lisa Crapella.– Youtube , The Truth Blog Part 2 – Youtube , Miss M – Youtube , Truth Crossing - Youtube
Clip from the movie THOR (2011) – Produced by Marvel Studios, distributed by Paramount Pictures and Directed by Kenneth Branagh
Coverage of 2016 Democratic National Convention from ABC News
Coverage of Pizzagate and Isaac Kappy interview from Infowars
Coverage of Edgar Welch's arrest from ANV News
Coverage of Nicholas Sandmann incident from MSNBC, CNN and Fox News
Interview with Lin Wood from Fox News
Clip of Lin Wood’s speech from Ronnie N – Youtube
Coverage of 2021 US Capitol Attack from CNN

S1. Ep 7: A Secret Room Behind a Fake Wall

An incident of racist bullying on Snapchat is currently tearing apart a small town on a lake in Michigan. As the ripples spread, practically every conflict we’ve encountered throughout our series rears its head.

Presented by Jon Ronson
Produced by Sarah Shebbeare
Assistant Producer Sam Peach
Music composed by Phil Channell

S1. Ep 8: A Mock Slave Auction

In this bonus episode of Things Fell Apart, Jon Ronson's friend and fellow documentary maker Louis Theroux asks him all about how he made the series. They take a deep dive into Culture Wars battles and explore Jon's storytelling methods, all while chatting about Jon's broken arm, putting old rivalries to bed, and how they deal with difficult interviewees when they both hate conflict. 

Produced by Sarah Shebbeare

S1. How Things Fell Apart, with Jon Ronson and Louis Theroux

How the mysterious deaths of 32 black sex workers in Miami in the 1980s led to a whole new (and spurious) mental health diagnosis, ending with another murder that occurred during the height of lockdown.

Written and presented by Jon Ronson
Produced by Sarah Shebbeare
Original music by Phil Channell

Archive credits: NBC News June 1984; Fox Television’s A Current Affair 1989.

S2. Ep 1: The Most Mysterious Deaths

S2. Ep 1: The Most Mysterious Deaths

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