Review
A curtain has more or less descended upon the operations of the FBI since the 1975 Senate Church Committee hearings, and this book does more to pull back that curtain than any other source I am aware of. What we do know about FBI operations since 1975 has come in bits and pieces which have been carried in the press on a very episodic basis. The Dangers of Dissent puts together all that has been in the public record, plus a great deal which Greenberg has uncovered by using the Freedom of Information Act and by being in personal contact with individuals who have been involved in litigation with the FBI. It also brings together an amazing number of secondary sources, including newspapers, periodical literature and scholarly books. This book is easily the most important source of information on the post-1975 FBI to date. I would certainly recommend the book to anyone with interests in the FBI, the intelligence agencies, or the current state of American civil liberties.
(Robert Justin Goldstein, Oakland University and The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor )
Ivan Greenberg has written a tour de force on the history and transformation of the FBI in relation to civil liberties and political involvement in a democratic society over the past 50 years. This comprehensive and balanced yet critical analysis of
The Dangers of Dissent is an excellent primer on the subject, locating the centrality of its discussion in the rise of an information and surveillance society. (Gregg Barak, author of In Defense of Whom? A Critique of Criminal Justice Reform )
In
The Dangers of Dissent, Ivan Greenberg turns the Freedom of Information Act into a weapon of protest. The result is an expose of FBI misconduct over forty years and a report from the legal trenches by a litigator against the government. Very informative. (Chris Waldrep, San Francisco State University )
Greenberg makes an important contribution to our understanding of the impact of the security state on civil liberties. His book is a passionate account, although not a polemical one, and its urgent tone reminds us that the price of our inattention has often been higher than we wish to admit.
(
Journal of American History )
The Dangers of Dissent is a well documented and meticulously researched work that deserves the serious attention of social scientists of all disciplines and anyone concerned with the growth and impact of the surveillance state on democracy in America.
(
Logos: A Journal Of Modern Society & Culture )
From the Back Cover
"A curtain has more or less descended upon the operations of the FBI since the 1975 Senate Church Committee hearings, and this book does more to pull back that curtain than any other source I am aware of. What we do know about FBI operations since 1975 has come in bits and pieces which have been carried in the press on a very episodic basis. Dangers of Dissent puts together all that has been in the public record, plus a great deal which Greenberg has uncovered by using the Freedom of Information Act and by being in personal contact with individuals who have been involved in litigation with the FBI. It also brings together an amazing number of secondary sources, including newspapers, periodical literature and scholarly books. This book is easily the most important source of information on the post-1975 FBI to date. I would certainly recommend the book to anyone with interests in the FBI, the intelligence agencies, or the current state of American civil liberties."--Robert Justin Goldstein, Oakland University and The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor"Ivan Greenberg has written a tour de force on the history and transformation of the FBI in relation to civil liberties and political involvement in a democratic society over the past 50 years. This comprehensive and balanced yet critical analysis of The Dangers of Dissent is an excellent primer on the subject, locating the centrality of its discussion in the rise of an information and surveillance society."--Gregg Barak, author of In Defense of Whom? A Critique of Criminal Justice Reform
"In The Dangers of Dissent, Ivan Greenberg turns the Freedom of Information Act into a weapon of protest. The result is an expose of FBI misconduct over forty years and a report from the legal trenches by a litigator against the government. Very informative."--Chris Waldrep, San Francisco State University
