Jon Wiener

Contributing Editor

Jon Wiener started writing for The Nation in 1984. Since then he's written more than 100 stories and reviews for the magazine, many about American history, university politics, and California life. He's also professor of history at the University of California, Irvine, and a Los Angeles radio host.

Wiener sued the FBI under the Freedom of Information Act in 1983 for its files on John Lennon. With the help of the ACLU of Southern California, Wiener v. FBI went all the way to the Supreme Court before the FBI settled it in 1997, releasing all but ten of the contested pages. That story is told in Wiener's book, Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files; some of the pages of the Lennon FBI file are posted here. The story is also told in the documentary, The U.S. Versus John Lennon, released in 2006; Wiener served as historical consultant for the film, and appears in it. Conspiracy in the Streets: The Extraordinary Trial of the Chicago 8, published in 2006, is edited with an introduction by Wiener (with illustrations by Jules Feiffer). His work has also appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, and the Los Angeles Times. It has been translated into Japanese, German, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Danish and Italian.

Wiener hosts a weekly afternoon drive-time interview radio program on KPFK 90.7 FM in Los Angeles His guests have included Joan Didion, Gore Vidal, Barbara Ehrenreich, Frank Rich, Seymour Hersh, Maxine Hong Kingston, Amos Oz, Mike Davis, Elmore Leonard, John Dean, Julian Bond, Al Franken, and Terry Gross of the NPR show Fresh Air.

Jon Wiener was born in St. Paul, Minnesota and attended Central High School there. He has a B.A. from Princeton and a Ph.D. from Harvard, where he began working as a writer in the late sixties for the underground paper The Old Mole. He lives in Los Angeles.

Currently

  • Obama's CIA-on-Campus Program

    September 9, 2009 Subscribe

    Shrouded in secrecy, "intelligence officer training" conflicts with universities' commitment to openness and free inquiry.

  • Frank Sinatra: His Way

    June 15, 2009

    The bell ring-a-ding-dings for Ol' Blue Eyes

  • Opening the Files on Bush's Secrets

    February 25, 2009

    Freedom of Information wish list: What did Treasury do with the TARP money? Who authorized torture? Plus, warrantless wiretap targets, FEMA's Katrina records and White House e-mail.

  • Let the Sun Shine In

    January 28, 2009

    The era of secrecy in government is officially over.

  • Rick Warren's Clout

    January 15, 2009

    How powerful is he? Take a look at his tax breaks.

2008

  • Nixon Dirty Trickster on McCain Team

    September 15, 2008

    The man instrumental in a White House move to deport John Lennon in 1972 now heads McCain's transition team.

  • Letters

    July 30, 2008 Subscribe

  • Warriors for Zion--in California

    June 19, 2008

    Accusations by right-wing Zionists of anti-Semitism at the University of California, Irvine, are suspect at best.

  • City of Fear

    June 11, 2008 Subscribe

    A new book explores the historical ties between African-American and Japanese-American communities in Los Angeles.

  • J. Edgar Hoover, Author

    May 22, 2008 Subscribe

    A new book reveals the FBI Director's distinctive relationship with his publisher.

2007

  • Judging Thomas

    November 8, 2007

    A close look at Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas reveals a deeply conservative and increasingly bitter man.

  • Letters

    August 8, 2007 Subscribe

  • Al Franken's Rising Fortunes

    August 3, 2007

    It's early in the game, but his bid to unseat Minnesota Republican Senator Norm Coleman is gaining strength.

  • President Rudy

    July 30, 2007

    How much worse a president would Rudy Giuliani be than George W. Bush? Author Kevin Baker counts the ways.

  • End of an Era at the LA Weekly

    June 27, 2007

    The Rupert Murdoch effect: The progressive LA Weekly has gone from a well-reported newspaper to a flashy tabloid with "gotcha" articles.

  • A Day in the Life: Sgt. Pepper Turns 40

    May 31, 2007

    Four decades later, much of the thrill is gone from The Beatles' magnum opus. Except for one song.

  • Letters

    May 23, 2007 Subscribe

  • The Chutzpah Industry

    May 2, 2007

    Alan Dershowitz is at it again, campaigning to deny tenure to a DePaul University professor who criticized him.

  • Terror at the Nixon Library

    February 8, 2007

    A new exhibit inadvertently displays why Americans might be confused about what terrorism is and how to fight it.

2006

  • The Last Lennon File

    December 20, 2006 Subscribe

    The controversy over newly released files on John Lennon is less about Lennon than about excessive government secrecy.

  • America, Through a Glass Darkly

    October 5, 2006

    An intellectual biography of Richard Hofstadter rides a wave of nostalgia for this artful historian and liberal icon of the 1950s and '60s.

  • Israeli Doves Challenge the War

    August 7, 2006

    According to the Western media, most Israelis, including leading peace advocates, support the ongoing war in Lebanon. But Israeli doves are beginning to speak out. Will it make a difference?

  • Curing Fanaticism

    February 1, 2006

    Amos Oz reflects on the political and diplomatic implications of Hamas's recent victory and its impact on opportunities for peace.

  • UCLA's Dirty Thirty

    January 26, 2006

    Negative media coverage has succeeded in undermining support among prominent conservatives for a UCLA alumni group that paid students to target and expose left-leaning faculty.

2005

2004

2002

2001

2000

1999

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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