Jon Wiener

Jon Wiener is an American historian and journalist based in Los Angeles, California. His most recent book is Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties, a Los Angeles Times bestseller co-authored by Mike Davis. He waged a 25-year legal battle to win the release of the FBI's files on John Lennon. Wiener played a key role in efforts to expose the surveillance, as well as the behind-the-scenes battling between the government and the former Beatle, and is an expert on the FBI-versus-Lennon controversy. A professor emeritus of U.S. history at the University of California, Irvine, and host of The Nation's weekly podcast, Start Making Sense, he is a contributing editor for the progressive political weekly magazine The Nation. He also hosts a weekly radio program in Los Angeles.