Long Shadow

The April 1999 massacre at Columbine High School hurtled the United States into an era of mass shootings. Now, a quarter century later, the horrors of that day have become an almost regular facet of American life, and gun violence a record-smashing epidemic.

But the U.S. wasn’t always like this. A carefully manufactured fear has driven explosive demand for firearms across America, making guns a divisive and menacing element of modern life.

The Ruby Ridge raid, the Waco siege at the Branch Davidian compound, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Jan. 6 insurrection… they are all explosive moments in recent U.S. history.

But connect the dots between these — and other — seemingly disparate, violent events, and you’ll answer some of the most existential questions facing the U.S. today: How did America get the far right so wrong? What will it take now to get it?

Marking the dividing line between the 20th and 21st centuries, the September 11 attacks quickly became the hinge upon which so much changed. Many watched the tragedy unfold live on television, but most still don’t understand what happened that day. Twenty years later, a quarter of Americans are too young to even remember the attacks.

While thorough, large-scale efforts like the 9/11 Commission tried to make sense of that chaotic day, many mysteries remain.