At first sight, 2d SU(N) adjoint QCD seems like a nice toy model for 4d gauge theory: it has a Z_N center symmetry, a chiral symmetry, and apparently non-trivial dynamics that lead to stringy Hagedorn behavior at large N.  But it was studied intensively in the 1990s, with the surprising conclusion that it does not confine.  Recently we revisited the analysis using several tools not available in the 90s.  It turns out that 2d adjoint QCD has a number of mixed 't Hooft anomalies.  Modern anomaly matching arguments along with explicit examination of calculable corners of parameter space  suggest that, in fact, the theory confines test quarks, breaks chiral symmetry, and has striking spectral properties in the large N limit.