New nonfiction · 2026

Fear and Fury

2026 book by Heather Ann Thompson

Summary

Fear and Fury: The Reagan Eighties, the Bernie Goetz Shootings, and the Rebirth of White Rage is a nonfiction book by Heather Ann Thompson. The book revisits the 1984 New York City Subway shooting, a significant moment in the history of New York City in which a middle-aged white man, Bernie Goetz, shot four black teenagers when one asked for five dollars on the subway. Thompson covers the incident through an analysis of white rage, connecting it to Reagan-era politics and present-day attitudes, taking care to emphasize the humanity of the four teens. Nearly simultaneously to the release of Fear and Fury, another imprint of the same publishing house released Five Bullets, a book by legal analyst Elliot Williams that covers the shooting from a more legal perspective. Reviews of Fear and Fury were generally positive.

From the Wikipedia article “Fear and Fury”, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Sources & data

  • Facts from Wikidata; summary from Wikipedia.