Fear & Fury

by Heather Ann Thompson · 2026

Fear & Fury is a nonfiction work by historian Heather Ann Thompson that examines the intertwined forces of mass incarceration, prison politics, and urban violence in contemporary America. Drawing on her award‑winning scholarship on the Attica uprising and her extensive reporting for The Atlantic, The New York Times, and other outlets, Thompson shows how punitive criminal‑justice policies have reshaped power dynamics, disenfranchised communities, and amplified racial and economic inequities. The book situates modern prison expansion within a broader historical context of the 14th Amendment, the War on Crime, and shifting political power between rural, white constituencies and inner‑city populations.