Fear and Fury: The Reagan Eighties, the Bernie Goetz Shootings, and the Rebirth of White Rage by Heather Ann Thompson. Pantheon, 560 pages. 2026. Five Bullets: The Story of Bernie Goetz, New York’s Explosive ’80s, and the Subway Vigilante Trial That Divided the Nation by Elliot Williams. Penguin Press, 384 pages. 2026. On December 22, 1984 , sometime after 1:00 p.m., Bernie Goetz, a thirty-seven-year-old white man, shot four black teenagers from the South Bronx on the IRT downtown express 2 train. Troy Canty, Darrell Cabey, James Ramseur, and Barry Allen were on their way to a video arcade when Canty asked Goetz for five dollars. Goetz unzipped his jacket, as if to get the cash. Instead, he pulled out a gun and started shooting. He shot Canty first, in his chest. Next, he shot Allen, who was trying to flee, and hit him in the back. Then he shot Ramseur in the arm, but the bullet also struck the side of his chest. Finally, Goetz approached Cabey. Goetz’s bullet had just missed him.…