Days of Rage

America's Radical Underground, the FBI, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence

By: Bryan Burrough

Narrated by: Ray Porter

From the bestselling author of Public Enemies and The Big Rich, an explosive account of the decade-long battle between the FBI and the homegrown revolutionary movements of the 1970s

The Weathermen. The Symbionese Liberation Army. The FALN. The Black Liberation Army. The names seem quaint now, when not forgotten altogether. But there was a stretch of time in America, during the 1970s, when bombings by domestic underground groups were a daily occurrence. The FBI combated these groups and others as nodes in a single revolutionary underground, dedicated to the violent overthrow of the American government.

The FBI’s response to the leftist revolutionary counterculture has not been treated kindly by history, and in hindsight many of its efforts seem almost comically ineffectual, if not criminal in themselves. But part of the extraordinary accomplishment of Bryan Burrough’s Days of Rage is to temper those easy judgments with an understanding of just how deranged these times were, how charged with menace. Burrough re-creates an atmosphere that seems almost unbelievable just forty years later, conjuring a time of native-born radicals, most of them “nice middle-class kids,” smuggling bombs into skyscrapers and detonating them inside the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol, at a Boston courthouse and a Wall Street restaurant packed with lunchtime diners—radicals robbing dozens of banks and assassinating policemen in New York, San Francisco, Atlanta. The FBI, encouraged to do everything possible to undermine the radical underground, itself broke many laws in its attempts to bring the revolutionaries to justice—often with disastrous consequences.

Benefiting from the extraordinary number of people from the underground and the FBI who speak about their experiences for the first time, Days of Rage is filled with revelations and fresh details about the major revolutionaries and their connections and about the FBI and its desperate efforts to make the bombings stop. The result is a mesmerizing book that takes us into the hearts and minds of homegrown terrorists and federal agents alike and weaves their stories into a spellbinding secret history of the 1970s.

great story, minor flaws

Very interesting and flows together well, but every once in awhile one minor detail would throw everything off. For example, the author refers to a handgun as a 347 Magnum. Clearly, he meant a 357 magnum, as there is no such thing as a 347. Other than little details like this however, a very enjoyable read.

Fascinating, excellent work!

I remember the first time my father pointed out the sheer number of bombings in America during this period, and it didn't seem real. I think it's a useful perspective to have.

Amazing treatment of tough history

Any additional comments?

No other book has the fine detail of every single group and radical action of the period. The author treats the victims of the violence of the era with great respect and empathy and exposes the fraud and duplicity of many of the groups at hand. He also gives chilling details of those groups that were not just playing. A must for anyone interested in the 1970s. Ray Porter is an outstanding reader.

some rumors goin 'round, someone's underground...

"And there's some rumors going 'round, someone's underground" The Eagles, "Witchy Woman," 1972

This is THE new treatise on the radical left of the 1970s, including the Weatherman from early 1970 to 1972, the Black Liberation Army from the Spring of 1971 to 1973, the Weather Underground in 1973, the Symbionese Liberation Army from November 1973 to 1974 and the FALN of the late 1970s , the last being the communist organization fighting for Puerto Rican "independence." This book is a thorough review of these organizations and the people behind them, some of whom were imprisoned and some who have escaped the authorities until this day. The explosives used in the bombings were mostly ineffective, but killed innocent people. I don't know that many of those responsible are truly remorseful. As the book captures, a lot of these "radicals" had a savior complex.

I think the author did as best he could with the materials he had. Mr. Burrough certainly illuminated the reasons underlying the formation of these terrorist groups - it was more due to racism than the war in Vietnam and most of the members of the primarily white factions were liberal rich kids. Yet, I found the book lacking as a compelling read in the nature of the best historical literature of late.

If you came of age during the 1970s though, and have memories of the evening news reports of a new bombing every few weeks and surreal names like Symbionese and the kidnapping of Patty Hearst, I recommend this in-depth history of a turbulent time in our nation's past.

Amazing how so many bombings got so little attention

Well narrated! A good, full history of pre-9/11 terrorism in the US. The public reaction to the endless bombings is quite interesting. Begs the question what would citizens and the 24hr news stations do if it happened today?