The Rights of the People: How Our Search for Safety Invades Our Liberties

by David K. Shipler

How have our rights to privacy and justice been undermined? What exactly have we lost? Pulitzer Prize–winner David K. Shipler searches for the answers to these questions by examining the historical expansion and contraction of our fundamental rights and, most pointedly, the real-life stories of individual men and women who have suffered. This is the account of what has been taken—and of how much we stand to regain by protesting the departures from the Bill of Rights.

With keen insight and telling detail, Shipler describes how the Supreme Court’s constitutional rulings play out on the streets as Washington, D.C., police officers search for guns in poor African American neighborhoods, how a fruitless search warrant turns the house of a Homeland Security employee upside down, and how the secret surveillance and jailing of an innocent lawyer result from an FBI lab mistake. Each instance—often as shocking as it is compelling—is a clear illustration of the risks posed to individual liberties in our modern society. And, in Shipler’s hands, each serves as a powerful incitement for a retrieval of these precious rights.

A brilliant, immeasurably important audiobook for our time.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Philosophy, History

Audio CD

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

David K. Shipler reported for The New York Times from 1966 to 1988 in New York, Saigon, Moscow, Jerusalem, and Washington. He is the author of four other books, including the best sellers Russia and The Working Poor, and Arab and Jew, which won the Pulitzer Prize. He has been a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and has taught at Princeton University, at American University in Washington, D.C., and at Dartmouth College.

Reviews

[Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Important Book - for Liberals and Conservatives

Pulitzer Prize-winning author David K. Shipler takes a long hard look at the rights we have sacrificed in the era of the War on Drugs and the War on Terror, and lesser wars such as the War on Handgun Violence in The Rights of the People: How Our Search for Safety Invades Our Liberties . I picked this book up figuring that my Conservative sensibilities might get ruffled a bit by a New York Times reporter but I might learn a thing or two along the way.

I always tell people that the traditional left-right continuum used to describe someone's politics is so inaccurate as to be useless. Really, what is the difference between an aging hippie living on a hill somewhere raising some dope for personal use and telling the government to get out of his business and a Barry Goldwater-type conservative (like me) living by himself on a hill somewhere that tells the government to get its nose out of his business? Some dope. Otherwise, they are both determined advocates of civil liberties - keep out of my business if it is not hurting anyone else.

Mr. Shipler and I meet on that continuum at the spot I just described...

Read more at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2011/...

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Describes many examples of civil rights violation trends; some, especially the author’s ride-along with police in Washington, DC, to the point of beating a dead horse (if three examples are good, ten must be better). There are many good observations on how individual rights continue to erode in the guise of patriotism, and how US citizens have come to accept the loss of privacy. My favorite chapter was about librarians who refused to turn over patron records to the government. Librarians should rule the world.

[Tamra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pulitzer prize winner
Gives accounts of what past Presidents have done to erode our rights. Take your pick--Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama have all undermined our Constitutional rights and liberties and this author asks the reader to reflect on the consequences of living in society where evidence cannot be challenged and asset forfeiture (seizing of bank accounts and personal property) before a trial even begins is what we really want. If we really had a Tea party fighting for the people, this should be their top priority.

[Bobbettylou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fropm the book jacket: " . . .an impassioned, incisive look at the violations of civil liberties in the United States that have accelerated over the past decade - and their direct impact on our lives." Lots of real-live stories of people betrayed by their own government (expecially the Bush ((read Cheney)) White House immediatley after 9/11/2001 as it ignored and violated parts of the Bill of Rights, especially the forth ammendment, "The right of the people to be cecure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated . . ."

[Lin Lin]

The author of the book explored the six times in the U.S. history when the Constitution and the rights of Citizens in the United States became compromised. He challenged us to consider how much we are willing to acquience to the violations of civic rights after September 11, 2001 for the sake of national security.

[Chet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just started but I like the his placement of the "Bill of Rights" right after the table of contents.
It's been a bit since I read them and still marvel at their simplistic complexity. For the rest of the book I let you know.

[Debby Kean · Rating 1 out of 5]

Both boring and annoying by turns. Shipler has an emotional attachment to the Constitution which makes his book frustrating reading for non-Americans. He is of course, by our standards, very Right wing!

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shows in detail how government uses almost any pretext to abridge any rights of the people stated in the Constitution and Bill of Rights and how the right wing Supreme Court of today fails to protect those rights.

[Al Menaster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding book, well written, clear. Documents the infringements on liberty over the past decade, both with excellent analysis of court cases and many actual examples.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very readable and balanced; what he wrote really made me mad but he seemed to be able to be objective.