The Great Read: The Subway Vigilante Who Never Left Is Back
Two new books return to the ’80s-era saga of Bernie Goetz to consider the 21st-century intersections of race, crime and sensationalism.
The New York Times
The Great Read

January 20, 2026, 2:01 p.m. Eastern time

On weekdays and Sundays, we recommend one piece of exceptional writing from The Times — a narrative or essay that takes you someplace you might not expect to go.

A 1987 photograph shows Bernie Goetz, a white man in a windbreaker wearing wire-framed glasses. He is standing in a hallway holding a manila folder, with three other men nearby.

William E. Sauro/The New York Times

The Subway Vigilante Who Never Left Is Back

Two new books return to the ’80s-era saga of Bernie Goetz to consider the 21st-century intersections of race, crime and sensationalism.

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