First published 2011
Glenn Greenwald examines how America abandoned equal justice under law over four decades. He traces this breakdown from Watergate through Iran-Contra to Obama's protection of Bush administration officials. The book reveals how political and financial elites operate with virtual immunity from prosecution while ordinary citizens face imprisonment at rates higher than anywhere else globally. Greenwald shows how media outlets, both major parties, and courts enabled this system that permits torture, war crimes, domestic surveillance, and financial fraud without consequences. He demonstrates the specific mechanisms that shield powerful actors from accountability while the powerless suffer under increasingly harsh enforcement. The author argues this creates a fundamentally un-American arrangement where justice depends on status rather than law. Readers gain insight into how institutional failures across government and media created immunity for those at the top.
Genres: american, political-science, non-fiction, 21st-century, current-affairs, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: institutional-failure, systemic-injustice
Setting: America, United States
Period: Watergate, Iran-Contra
304 pages · Hardcover · Metropolitan Books
Content warnings: abuse, torture