A Government of Wolves

July 29, 2013
Using a handful of movies as metaphorsâ not to mention a healthy dose of George Orwell â attorney John W. Whitehead's book is an overzealous investigation of the increasingly invasive methods various surveillance agencies are using under the guise of protecting citizens. He offers example after example of the erosion of civil liberties. The Patriot Act, Whitehead says, has given government agencies like the NSA and even local police departments the ability to use electronic surveillance via GPS, cell phones, and cameras to monitor our activities, often without our knowledge. His increasingly strident tone as he describes mobile scanners that can monitor your every movement, even in your own home, and a society in which pharmaceuticals are used to keep the populace anaesthetized and obedient cranks up the melodrama. With photos clippings, diagrams, bullet points, full page graphics, the execution of this book may come off as a riled-up rant but his multiple examples, backed up with copious footnotes and references, are enough to give even the most optimistically obedient citizen cause for concern. Whitehead is a concerned citizen bursting at the seams to get his point across.