Free for All ─ Defending Liberty in America Today

In her introduction, essayist Kaminer argues that the first response of the Bush administration to September 11th "was a law enforcement crackdown and a demand for new restrictions on liberty, although there was no evidence that the attacks resulted from too much liberty or too little law enforcement power." In 48 short essays published between 1999 and 2002 (most in The American Prospect , she lucidly examines threats to civil liberties, commenting on secrecy in government, the detention without trial of citizens and non-citizens, incursions into privacy and government surveillance, the limiting of free speech, and a broad range of other issues. The essays were updated as of spring 2002 (and, except for the most recent two, recast in the past tense). They are not indexed. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)