Non-Fiction Review: Today's American: How Free? by Freedom House

After about 6 weeks of picking at it, I've finally finished reading Freedom House's Today's American: How Free?. This book provides a think tank approach to analyzing the current state of freedom and democracy within the United States, with the end conclusions being that things aren't as bad as we think, but there have been some sketchy changes under the Bush administration, and there is definitely room for improvement.

If you're interested in politics at all, then you'll definitely want to check this book out, regardless of your political leanings. It provides adequate fodder for both parties, plus for everybody in between. To give you an example of how the book really can work for any perspective, check out this quote from p22:

"Yet even now, six years after 9/11, the impact of the administration's policies on the civil liberties of Americans remains unclear. This is due in part to attempts by the administration to limit public knowledge of its actions on national security grounds. At the same time, the proposition that, as some critics have said, counterterrorism policies are placing fundamental freedoms in jeopardy and leading to massive violations of civil liberties seems to be an overstatement of current conditions, especially when viewed in historical context."