Nation of Secrets The Threat to Democracy and the American Way of Life (Paperback)

From the Publisher: Examines the growing emphasis on secrecy in government, business, academia, courtrooms, the media, and every other aspect of American life, explaining why the expanding array of classified information devaluates true privacy and how the preoccupation with secrecy has undermined such values as patriotism, security, privacy, and the national interest. Reprint. 17,500 first printing.Award winning journalist Ted Gup exposes how and why our most important institutions increasingly keep secrets from the very people they are supposed to serve. Drawing on his decades as an investigative reporter, Ted Gup argues that a preoccupation with secrets has undermined the very values--security, patriotism, and privacy--in whose name secrecy is so often invoked. He explores the blatant exploitation of privacy and confidentiality in academia, business, and the courts, and concludes that in case after case, these principles have been twisted to allow the emergence of a shadow system of justice, unaccountable to the public. Nation of Secrets not only sounds the alarm to warn against an unethical way of life, but calls for the preservation of our democracy as we know it.