You Have No Rights: Stories of America in an Age of Repression
Matthew Rothschild
The New Press
Buy From Amazon
ISBN: 9781595581648

Let's start the review this way. This is a book that everyone who lives in the United States should read.

Why? We all have heard the impact that the Patriot Act, The Military Commissions act and the like are going to have on our society. With the Democratic Congress just passing a new license for the Bush wiretap program, it appears that some of these infringements on our rights are not going to go away anytime soon.

What Matthew Rothschild has done is compile a list of short stories of people who have their lies interrupted and sometimes taken away from the increasing paranoia in the United States. There are the stories you have all heard of, the kid with the T-shirt with GW's picture and the words "International Terrorist" getting kicked out of school. The internationally renowned scholar who lost a job at Notre Dame because the Bush administration didn't like his politics, but there is also a list that goes on and on of situations you have not heard about.

Reading all of these stories can feel exhausting and give a since of hopelessness until you realize that most of these stories have come to light because those who were affected decided to fight back. This book that on the surface seems like it is describing a hopeless situation lead me to a place of hope. Hope that more people would read this book realize that they are not on their own and have the ability to fight back.