This is Democracy – Episode 317: Vigilantism and Violence in American Society

Jeremi and Zachary speak with historian Heather Ann Thompson about her book "Fear and Fury," using the 1984 Bernie Goetz subway case to explore how Reagan-era, rising inequality, and a newly powerful conservative media reshaped public attitudes about crime, race, and self-defense. They connect the episode to figures like Rupert Murdoch, Donald Trump, and Rudy Giuliani, and to the often-overlooked lives of the four teenagers at the center of the story. Dr. Heather Ann Thompson is a historian at the University of Michigan, and is the Pulitzer Prize and Bancroft Prize-winning author of Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy (Pantheon Books, 2016). Her latest book is Fear and Fury: The Reagan 80s, the Bernie Goetz Shootings, and the Rebirth of White Rage (Pantheon, 2026).

You can listen to This is Democracy – Episode 317: Vigilantism and Violence in American Society online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

This is Democracy – Episode 317: Vigilantism and Violence in American Society is an episode from This is Democracy by LAITS.

This episode is 00:34:38 long.

This episode was published on Feb 20, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from This is Democracy when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.