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Jeffrey Toobin on the Roots of Jan. 6 and Adam Hochschild on Anti-Woke History

On this episode of the Start Making Sense podcast, the legacy of the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building; and reading Hillsdale College’s “1776 Curriculum.”

Jon Wiener and Start Making Sense

May 18, 2023

Truck Bomb Explodes Outside Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995.(J. Pat Carter / Getty Images)

The ideological roots of the January 6 insurrection go back decades before Trump entered politics — back to the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995. Jeffrey Toobin joins the podcast to explain. His new book is Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism.

Also on this episode of Start Making Sense: Ron DeSantis is campaigning for president promising to “stop woke history.” That is, to stop teaching about slavery and its legacy of institutional racism. Adam Hochschild found the history guide DeSantis wants: the Hillsdale College “1776 Curriculum.” He reports on what’s in it —and what’s not.

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Jon WienerTwitterJon Wiener is a contributing editor of The Nation and co-author (with Mike Davis) of Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties.


Start Making SenseTwitterStart Making Sense is The Nation’s podcast, hosted by Jon Wiener and coproduced by the Los Angeles Review of Books. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts for new episodes each Thursday.  


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