Fear and fury : the Reagan eighties, the Bernie Goetz shootings, and the rebirth of white rage / Heather Ann Thompson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Thompson, Heather Ann, 1963- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Goetz, Bernhard Hugo, 1947---Trials, litigation, etc.

Goetz, Bernhard Hugo.

Vigilantism--New York (State)--New York--History--20th century.

Vigilantism.

African Americans--Crimes against--New York (State)--New York--History--20th century.

African Americans.

United States--Race relations--History--20th century.

United States.

Right-wing extremists--United States.

Right-wing extremists.

Nineteen eighties.

Trials (Assault and battery)--New York (State)--New York.

Trials (Assault and battery).

Self-defense (Law)--United States.

Self-defense (Law).

Genre:

True crime stories.

Physical Description:

ix, 543 pages : black and white illustrations ; 25 cm

Edition:

First hardcover edition.

Other Title:

Reagan eighties, the Bernie Goetz shootings, and the rebirth of white rage

Place of Publication:

New York : Pantheon Books, 2026.

Summary:

On December 22, 1984, in a graffiti-covered New York City subway car, passengers looked on in horror as a white loner named Bernhard Goetz shot four Black teens, Darrell Cabey, Barry Allen, Troy Canty, and James Ramseur, at point-blank range. He then disappeared into a dark tunnel. After an intense manhunt, and his eventual surrender in New Hampshire, the man the tabloid media had dubbed the "Death Wish Vigilante" would become a celebrity and a hero to countless ordinary Americans who had been frustrated with the economic fallout of the Reagan 80s. Overnight, Goetz's young victims would become villains. Out of this dramatic moment would emerge an angry nation, in which Rupert Murdoch's New York Post and later Fox News Network stoked the fear and the fury of a stunning number of Americans. Drawing from never-before-seen archival materials, legal files, and more, Heather Ann Thompson narrates the Bernie Goetz Subway shootings and their decades-long reverberations, while deftly recovering the lives of the boys whom too many decided didn't matter. Fear and Fury is the remarkable account and a searing indictment of a crucial turning point in American history.

Contents:

Part I: Poisoning the Big Apple. Dreams dashed ; Secrets and scars ; Creating crisis ; Fueling fear and fury ; Profiting from pain

Part II: Shooting to kill. An ordinary day ; Manhattan bound ; Bloodbath ; Triage ; Aftershocks ; Victims or villains

Part III: A reckoning deferred. On the lam ; Explanations and obfuscations ; Consequences and costs ; Fallout ; Feeling the love ; The blame game ; Making the case ; Not so fast ; Pressure cooker ; Second time around ; Last-ditch effort

Part IV: Vigilantism on trial. Gearing up for battle ; Enter the jury ; Making sense of madness ; Fumble and drive ; Bombshells and blowups ; Fighting dirty ; Smoke and mirrors ; Rewritings and remonstrations ; Justifications and judgment ; Details and delays ; Postmortem

Part V: Justice served cold. In for a penny ; A different kind of case ; Tit for tat ; Dirty tricks ; On the offensive ; Old wine, new bottles ; Going it alone ; Relitigating the past ; Duck and weave

Part VI: The rebirth of white rage in America. Hearts and minds ; Politics and prejudice ; Saying their names ; Referendum ; Fury unfurled ; Reaping what was sown ; Requiem.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 457-521) and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Thompson, Heather Ann, 1963- Fear and fury.

ISBN:

9780593702093

0593702093

OCLC:

1564424298