It’s April 19th, 1995, the 220th anniversary of the start of the American War of Independence, and two years since the violent end of the Waco, Texas siege. In Oklahoma City, a disaffected army veteran named Timothy McVeigh leaves a truck outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. Inside the truck is a bomb. At 9am, McVeigh lights the two minute fuse. When the bomb explodes, it kills 168 people and wounds 680 more.

In An American Bombing: The Road to April 19th, Marc Levin retraces McVeigh’s footsteps, showing how he went from being a war hero to a terrorist. Rather than look at McVeigh in isolation, however, Marc places his actions in the context of the evolution of political violence in the USA. It is an evolution that continues to the present day.

In this episode of Factual America, Marc and Daphne discuss the making of the film. They look at how the bombing has become an almost forgotten moment in American history, the economic and military as well as historical background to the outrage, whether McVeigh acted alone, and how views that in the 90s were regarded as being extreme have now entered the mainstream.

As we head towards the 2024 US Presidential election on November 5th, An American Bombing: The Road to April 19th reflects upon the dangerous journey of American democracy and the high price Americans have had to pay for their freedoms.

Watch the episode at https://factualamerica.com

“He may be dead but the ghost of McVeigh lives, and there are lots of people out there that subscribe to some of his thinking.” – Marc Levin

Climate change, terrorism, social inequality and poverty, wars between nations, and injustice. Things do not look too good for the world today, and there seems to be little to no hope for the future.

A Brief History of the Future, a new docu-series on PBS, challenges this pessimistic outlook. Directed by Andrew Morgan and presented by Ari Wallach, the series visits people from all over the world who are doing something – no matter how big or small – to make the world a better place, not just for their today, but also for everyone’s tomorrow.

Andrew is Matthew Sherwood’s guest on this episode of Factual America. Together, they explore: why humans are given to pessimism – ironically, the reason is not a negative one; the idea that what we regard today as possible was once thought to be impossible; and how creativity can come out of what Andrew calls ‘this season of chaos and complexity’.

Andrew talks about A Brief History of the Future from an intensely personal perspective: he came to the series suffering from burnout after making other documentaries about problems facing the world. Conversely, his view of the future is both epic and dynamic: the future is a verb; we do it, make it, every day. Discover how on Factual America.

Watch the episode at https://factualamerica.com

“We have a bias towards negativity, but we also have this extraordinary capacity for creativity and imagination, and just goodness.“ – Andrew Morgan

Why would US military veterans take up arms against the country they swore to protect? This is the question at the heart of Against All Enemies, a new documentary by Charlie Sadoff. In it, Charlie explores the role disaffected veterans played in the January 6th attack on the US Capitol.

In order to better understand what happened on that day, he looks at the history of civil unrest involving veterans, from groups such as the Ku Klux Klan through to modern day extremist organisations like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. His journey takes him not only inside these groups but to the top as he meets their leaders.

In conversation with Matthew Sherwood, Charlie discusses the answers he found to the question of why veterans join extremist groups, and what the aims of those groups are, as well as some of the people involved in them, including former National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn. He also considers whether there could be another January 6th attack, and if so, where.

If the picture for veterans looks bleak, Charlie does offer hope. There are groups that help vets transition back to civilian life. But, as he tells Matthew, more needs to be done. Go behind the scenes of the threats and dangers facing America’s veterans in Against All Enemies with Matthew Sherwood and Charlie Sadoff on Factual America.

Watch the episode at https://factualamerica.com

“Jason Crow was a congressman... barricaded inside the floor of the chamber of the House... he asked this question, How did I a veteran end up on one side of this door, and other veterans who swore the same oath I did end up on the other side of this door? That to me was a very provocative question. And the fact that it was coming from him made it all the more powerful.” – Charlie Sadoff