A new book by University of California-Irvine professor and MacArthur Fellow Mike Davis suggests the fatal 1970 bombing on the UW-Madison campus may have served as a template for future car bombers.
Davis’ book is titled “Buda’s Wagon: A Brief History of the Car Bomb,” and it takes its title from a day in September 1920, when an Italian-American immigrant and anarchist named Mario Buda parked a horse-drawn wagon in the center of New York City’s financial district. The wagon was packed with dynamite. Buda walked away. Moments later, the wagon exploded, killing 40 and injuring more than 200.