Aaron J. Leonard is a writer and historian with a particular focus on the history of radicalism and governmental suppression. He is the author of Heavy Radicals- The FBI's Secret War on America's Maoists, and A Threat of the First Magnitude, both with Conor A. Gallagher, and The Folk Singers and the Bureau. He has a BA with a dual major in history and social science (magna cum laude) from New York University. He lives in Los Angeles.
What happened when HUAC, the FBI, Jim Crow, corporate media outlets, drug warriors, the religious right, and even the Old Left tried to stop a freight train? Drawing on a broad range of sources, including FBI files, Whole World in an Uproar recounts that momentous story. Aaron Leonard integrates an amazing amount of research into a story that ranges from FBI surveillance of the Old Left to the rock scene to the social dissension around the anti-Vietnam War and Black liberation movements. A well-thought through, fascinating documentary about movements and people who were affected by oppressive societal actions. A fascinating counter-history of the 1960s music revolution through the eyes of the persecutors, paranoiacs and culture warriors who tried to stop it.