Control, privacy and safety in society Books

Book SynopsisOUR MOST NOTORIOUS CRIMINALS HAVE HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT.UNTIL NOW...''Emily'' is a devoted single mother.''Jack'' starts a new job in a new town.They both share the same secret:neither of them are who they say they are.They are among only nine criminals in the UK who have been granted lifelong anonymity, for their own safety, because of their terrible crimes. But what if someone exposed their true identities to the families of their victims, who are desperate for revenge? Probation officer Olivia Campbell is caught in the crossfire of this crisis - and as the search for the mole behind it all intensifies, so too does the hunt for the vigilante killers let loose by the leaks...RIGHT OR WRONG?CRIMINAL OR VICTIM?REDEMPTION OR REVENGE?*****Praise for AN EYE FOR AN EYE:''A big, bold, twisting thriller'' Trade Review'A propulsive thriller ... Fast-moving, disturbing and thought-provoking' * GUARDIAN, Thrillers of the Month *'A stirring crime novel for the 21st century' * DAILY MAIL *'There are no easy answers in this thoughtful, harrowing thriller' * THE SUN *'Impressive and compassionate, Eye For An Eye should win prizes' * LITERARY REVIEW *

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Book SynopsisThe Sunday Times top ten bestseller.Edward Snowden, the man who risked everything to expose the US government’s system of mass surveillance, reveals for the first time the story of his life, including how he helped to build that system and what motivated him to try to bring it down.In 2013, twenty-nine-year-old Edward Snowden shocked the world when he broke with the American intelligence establishment and revealed that the United States government was secretly pursuing the means to collect every single phone call, text message, and email. The result would be an unprecedented system of mass surveillance with the ability to pry into the private lives of every person on earth. Here, Snowden reveals for the very first time how he helped to build this system and why he was moved to expose it.Spanning the bucolic Beltway suburbs of his childhood and the clandestine CIA and NSA postings of his adulthood, Permanent Record is the extraordinary account of a bright young man who grew up online – a man who became a spy, a whistleblower, and, in exile, the Internet’s conscience.Written with wit, grace, passion, and an unflinching candor, Permanent Record is a crucial memoir of our digital age.'A riveting account . . . Reads like a literary thriller' - New York TimesTrade ReviewThe world's most famous whistleblower * Guardian *A riveting account . . . Reads like a literary thriller * New York Times *Riveting, pacy * Financial Times *Fascinating * Observer *Gripping * Washington Post *His disclosures of mass surveillance and bulk collection of personal information are as relevant now as they were in 2013 * Guardian *Full of surprises . . . A deeply reluctant whistleblower . . . he deserves our thanks * Nation *Well-written * The Economist *A very significant figure in the history of intelligence * Sunday Times *[A] thriller plot * London Review of Books *A thoughtful and elegantly written book -- Steven Poole, New StatesmenAn extraordinary book -- Cory Doctorow

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Book Synopsis'A wake-up call ... fascinating' Scott Galloway, author of The Four'Please read this' Jaron Lanier, author of Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media From the author of Move Fast and Break Things comes a withering takedown of four billionaires (from Andreessen to Zuckerberg) who are selling us fantasies while the world burns.At a time when multiple crises are compounding to create epic inequality, four billionaires are hyping schemes that are designed to divert our attention away from issues that really matter. Each scheme - from the metaverse to cryptocurrency, space travel and transhumanism - is an existential threat in moral, political, and economic terms.In The End of Reality¸ Jonathan Taplin shines a light on the enormous cultural power of Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Marc Andreessen, questioning whether we want our society to be run by people who receive blood transfusions to stay young. Will we really want our children anywhere near the metaverse? Do we trust Musk to rule over Mars?Tech monopolies have hollowed out the middle class and brought unbounded public acrimony. Meanwhile, enormous amounts of taxpayer money are funnelled into dystopian ventures, the benefits of which accrue to billionaires. The End of Reality is both a scathing critique of the warped worldview of a tiny minority and a vision of a truly regenerative economics to build a sustainable society with healthy growth and full employment.Trade ReviewTech culture has to improve for the sake of humanity, and that's not going to happen without critiques like The End of Reality. Please take the time to read this carefully, especially if you are sure it must be wrong. -- Jaron Lanier, author of Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right NowA wake-up call as to what happens when a society elevates people who don't have the public's best interests in mind. Taplin has a gift for storytelling that turns the bitter pill (reality check) into a fascinating read. -- Scott Galloway, bestselling author of AdriftPersuasive and insightful, this cutting portrait of America's slide toward oligarchy hits home. -- starred review * Publisher's Weekly *For those who profit from our polarization, isolation, and extremism, a failed democracy is not a bug but a feature. The End of Reality is an urgent warning about the concentration of power and privilege, an alarm that seeks to break through the captivating distractions of our age. -- Beto O’Rourke[Written] with eloquence and conviction... His great virtue as a writer is his humanity, an ability to clearly and elegantly state the case. The persuasive way Taplin builds his arguments, and the direct, uncompromising conclusions he draws, are what make this book so valuable. The End of Reality weaves together an ambitious and far-reaching critique of "our culture of escape from reality".' * Irish Independent *Scathing but humane... It's Taplin's contention that through their brain-dead ventures, they are avoiding reality - and would have us follow them... I found his pessimism strangely invigorating... A rousing rallying cry to resist the technocrats. * Business Post *

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Book Synopsis'A wake-up call ... fascinating' Scott Galloway, author of The Four'Please read this' Jaron Lanier, author of Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media From the author of Move Fast and Break Things comes a withering takedown of four billionaires (from Andreessen to Zuckerberg) who are selling us fantasies while the world burns.At a time when multiple crises are compounding to create epic inequality, four billionaires are hyping schemes that are designed to divert our attention away from issues that really matter. Each scheme - from the metaverse to cryptocurrency, space travel and transhumanism - is an existential threat in moral, political, and economic terms.In The End of Reality¸ Jonathan Taplin shines a light on the enormous cultural power of Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Marc Andreessen, questioning whether we want our society to be run by people who receive blood transfusions to stay young. Will we really want our children anywhere near the metaverse? Do we trust Musk to rule over Mars?Tech monopolies have hollowed out the middle class and brought unbounded public acrimony. Meanwhile, enormous amounts of taxpayer money are funnelled into dystopian ventures, the benefits of which accrue to billionaires. The End of Reality is both a scathing critique of the warped worldview of a tiny minority and a vision of a truly regenerative economics to build a sustainable society with healthy growth and full employment.Trade ReviewTech culture has to improve for the sake of humanity, and that's not going to happen without critiques like The End of Reality. Please take the time to read this carefully, especially if you are sure it must be wrong. -- Jaron Lanier, author of Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right NowA wake-up call as to what happens when a society elevates people who don't have the public's best interests in mind. Taplin has a gift for storytelling that turns the bitter pill (reality check) into a fascinating read. -- Scott Galloway, bestselling author of AdriftPersuasive and insightful, this cutting portrait of America's slide toward oligarchy hits home. -- starred review * Publisher's Weekly *For those who profit from our polarization, isolation, and extremism, a failed democracy is not a bug but a feature. The End of Reality is an urgent warning about the concentration of power and privilege, an alarm that seeks to break through the captivating distractions of our age. -- Beto O’Rourke[Written] with eloquence and conviction... His great virtue as a writer is his humanity, an ability to clearly and elegantly state the case. The persuasive way Taplin builds his arguments, and the direct, uncompromising conclusions he draws, are what make this book so valuable. The End of Reality weaves together an ambitious and far-reaching critique of "our culture of escape from reality".' * Irish Independent *Scathing but humane... It's Taplin's contention that through their brain-dead ventures, they are avoiding reality - and would have us follow them... I found his pessimism strangely invigorating... A rousing rallying cry to resist the technocrats. * Business Post *

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Book SynopsisA critical look at how the US military is weaponizing technology and data for new kinds of warfareand why we must resist. War Virtually is the story of how scientists, programmers, and engineers are racing to develop data-driven technologies for fighting virtual wars, both at home and abroad. In this landmark book, Roberto J. González gives us a lucid and gripping account of what lies behind the autonomous weapons, robotic systems, predictive modeling software, advanced surveillance programs, and psyops techniques that are transforming the nature of military conflict. González, a cultural anthropologist, takes a critical approach to the techno-utopian view of these advancements and their dubious promise of a less deadly and more efficient warfare. With clear, accessible prose, this book exposes the high-tech underpinnings of contemporary military operationsand the cultural assumptions they're built on. Chapters cover automated battlefield robotics; social scientists'involvement in eTrade Review"The topics addressed by Roberto González in War Virtually ought to concern us all." * Science *"González shows how surveillance thrives less on the machinations of evil men than on the pedestrian facts of political economy. . . . He scaffolds his analysis with character sketches of the social scientists, career generals, and Silicon Valley CEOs driving the development of virtual warfare." * Boston Review *"War Virtually overall paints the picture of a strong entanglement between the Defense Department and Silicon Valley. . . The details reveal the absurdity and megalomania that characterize aspects of virtual war. . . . A great piece of well-founded scholarship." * Public Anthropologist * "War Virtually is a well-written and carefully researched work of activist social science aimed at describing and diagnosing the pathologies of military-driven datafication dreams. Both specialist and lay readers will gain a better appreciation of these often-invisible aspects of the militarization of American society." * Contemporary Sociology *"A chilling view of where warfare and security are headed. . . . There is nothing cute or gee-whiz or cool about the terrifying forms of emergent warfare and data technologies that González expertly details and analyzes in War Virtually." * Current Anthropology *Table of ContentsContents List of Illustrations List of Terms and Abbreviations 1. War Virtually 2. Requiem for a Robot 3. Pentagon West 4. The Dark Arts 5. Juggernaut 6. Precogs, Inc. 7. Postdata Acknowledgments Appendix: Sub-rosa Research Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisPublic safety, as well as the safety of products and services, is of paramount importance and interest to individuals, organisations and society. Safety successes are achieved every second, but we take them for granted and we do not appreciate the challenges professionals meet to make the world as safe as possible. Safety failures are less frequent but become focal points of stakeholders and the public with a tendency to blame and not comprehend the context and the hard decisions professionals have to make when balancing safety with competing goals.This edited book includes case studies from industry practitioners exactly as they experience them without relying on the understanding of researchers who conduct studies and try to map the overall situation per case based on multiple interviews, observations and questionnaires. Included are case studies from the aviation, construction, oil and gas, telecommunications, transportation, health and public safety industries. They are sTrade Review"This book contains a collection of engaging, real-world stories from experienced safety practitioners. The events are described with breath-taking honesty giving the reader a true insight into the events and situations described, their causes and mitigations. Insights of this kind are rare to find. Anyone with a professional interest in safety will find this volume an absorbing and enlightening read."Prof. Don Harris, Human Systems Integration Group, Coventry University, United Kingdom"I have worked with safety and reliability practitioners for twenty-five years and as a narrative psychologist my expertise is in the value of stories and how they contribute to knowledge. This book shares not only knowledge, but also experience in story shapes that will resonate with the industry."Dr. Jacqueline Ward, Chief Executive, Safety & Reliability Society, United Kingdom"It is said that ‘good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from poor judgement’ – this book provides a wide range of anecdotal examples of both good and poor judgement in the practice of safety management across various regions and sectors. Safety Insights: Success and Failure Stories of Practitioners brings together years of expert experience, sharing secrets to success, and perhaps more importantly allowing the reader to understand what can (and has) gone wrong in the practical application of safety. By reading this book, you will gain that good judgement and experience by learning from the poor judgement of others, and not having to go through the pain yourself!"Ross Dunsford, Team Leader Systems Assurance, Systems Engineering & Assurance, WSP, United Kingdom"This book is a part of the transition that is going on in safety thinking. It dismisses old school standard phrasing about human error, normative behaviour and exclusive managerial control. It crosses borders by adhering to an integral safety concept and multi-actor perspective. Rather than a judgemental perspective on outcomes, it focuses on observing primary processes and operational behaviour. Hopefully this book is the first of a series on books with a disruptive view on safety."Prof. John Stoop, Kindunos Safety Consultancy, Netherlands"Safety Insights: Success and Failure Stories of Practitioners" is a must-read primer for anyone considering safety as a priority and has an ulterior motive for wanting to read about first-hand knowledge from the safety frontier. I strongly recommend this inventiveness because there is no other book on the market that captures this attempt for sharing the experiences of safety practitioners who have worked across several industry domains, such as Aviation, Rail, Defence, Construction and Occupational Safety. Indeed, it is the first book of its kind that reads like the emotional journey of eighteen authors who are truthful and passionate about safety.Dr. Ilias Panagopoulos, Senior Trainer, Joint Aviation Authorities Training Organization, Netherlands"Safety Insights bridges the gap between theory and practice. Here, practitioners tell us about their very personal experiences with various safety management aspects; their frustrations, their challenges, but also their achievements. As can be seen from their insightful accounts, what is straightforward and black-and-white in theory is much more complex in practice. Safety Insights is highly recommended for anyone interested in learning more about the real-life organizational facets of safety."Nicolaus Dmoch, Safety Investigation Manager & Citation Latitude Pilot, NetJets Europe, Portugal"The book includes enjoyable and relevant chapters with learnings of practitioners, including their challenges and what has worked well for them. Although Health & Safety (H&S) practitioners are often a bit negative towards other H&S approaches, the stories shared in the book describe each approach reasonably, and the readers should be able to relate and find useful takeaways to apply in their roles. Regardless of how much interesting each chapter will seem to the reader, the stories highlight various issues faced by organisations and H&S staff and have the potential to create great debates."Adam Williams, Executive Director Health, Safety & Environment, Queensland University of Technology, Australia"This book is a vital addition to the rapidly evolving body of health and safety knowledge as it considers 'safety-as-done' - its challenges, dissonances and opportunities in the field, from the eyes and in the voices of safety practitioners themselves. The cross sectoral narrative is novel in that it provides an insight into how professional colleagues are navigating a complex space as it moves from a command and control paradigm to a more adaptive space. Highly recommended for practitioners, researchers and students alike."Dr. Satyan Chari, Senior Faculty, Healthcare Improvement Fellowship Program, Clinical Excellence Queensland, Australia"This book contains a collection of engaging, real-world stories from experienced safety practitioners. The events are described with breath-taking honesty giving the reader a true insight into the events and situations described, their causes and mitigations. Insights of this kind are rare to find. Anyone with a professional interest in safety will find this volume an absorbing and enlightening read."Prof. Don Harris, Human Systems Integration Group, Coventry University, United Kingdom"Safety Insights: Success and Failure Stories of Practitioners is an excellent platform to share narratives from real-world experiences. Different sectors, professionals and academics with practical safety experience make up a unique offer to the reader. Real-life cases are used to illustrate various principles of safety. I firmly believe that this work will be a reference point for the reader, be it a professional or an academic. Nektarios Karanikas and his team of contributors have done an excellent book to provide a reference point for the constantly changing, dynamic safety environment."Prof. George Boustras, European University Cyprus & Editor-in-Chief, Safety Science"I have worked with safety and reliability practitioners for twenty-five years and as a narrative psychologist my expertise is in the value of stories and how they contribute to knowledge. This book shares not only knowledge, but also experience in story shapes that will resonate with the industry."Dr. Jacqueline Ward, Chief Executive, Safety & Reliability Society, United Kingdom"It is said that ‘good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from poor judgement’ – this book provides a wide range of anecdotal examples of both good and poor judgement in the practice of safety management across various regions and sectors. Safety Insights: Success and Failure Stories of Practitioners brings together years’ of expert experience, sharing secrets to success, and perhaps more importantly allowing the reader to understand what can (and has) gone wrong in the practical application of safety. By reading this book, you will gain that good judgement and experience by learning from the poor judgement of others, and not having to go through the pain yourself!"Ross Dunsford, Team Leader Systems Assurance, Systems Engineering & Assurance, WSP, United Kingdom"This book is a part of the transition that is going on in safety thinking. It dismisses old school standard phrasing about human error, normative behaviour and exclusive managerial control. It crosses borders by adhering to an integral safety concept and multi-actor perspective. Rather than a judgemental perspective on outcomes, it focuses on observing primary processes and operational behaviour. Hopefully this book is the first of a series on books with a disruptive view on safety."Prof. John Stoop, Kindunos Safety Consultancy, Netherlands"Safety Insights: Success and Failure Stories of Practitioners’ is a must-read primer for anyone considering safety as a priority and has an ulterior motive for wanting to read about first-hand knowledge from the safety frontier. I strongly recommend this inventiveness because there is no other book on the market that captures this attempt for sharing the experiences of safety practitioners who have worked across several industry domains, such as Aviation, Rail, Defence, Construction and Occupational Safety. Indeed, it is the first book of its kind that reads like the emotional journey of eighteen authors who are truthful and passionate about safety."Dr. Ilias Panagopoulos, Senior Trainer, Joint Aviation Authorities Training Organization, Netherlands"Safety Insights bridges the gap between theory and practice. Here, practitioners tell us about their very personal experiences with various safety management aspects; their frustrations, their challenges, but also their achievements. As can be seen from their insightful accounts, what is straightforward and black-and-white in theory is much more complex in practice. Safety Insights is highly recommended for anyone interested in learning more about the real-life organizational facets of safety."Nicolaus Dmoch, Safety Investigation Manager & Citation Latitude Pilot, NetJets Europe, Portugal"The book includes enjoyable and relevant chapters with learnings of practitioners, including their challenges and what has worked well for them. Although Health & Safety (H&S) practitioners are often a bit negative towards other H&S approaches, the stories shared in the book describe each approach reasonably, and the readers should be able to relate and find useful takeaways to apply in their roles. Regardless of how much interesting each chapter will seem to the reader, the stories highlight various issues faced by organisations and H&S staff and have the potential to create great debates."Adam Williams, Executive Director Health, Safety & Environment, Queensland University of Technology, Australia"This book is a vital addition to the rapidly evolving body of health and safety knowledge as it considers 'safety-as-done' - its challenges, dissonances and opportunities in the field, from the eyes and in the voices of safety practitioners themselves. The cross sectoral narrative is novel in that it provides an insight into how professional colleagues are navigating a complex space as it moves from a command and control paradigm to a more adaptive space. Highly recommended for practitioners, researchers and students alike."Dr. Satyan Chari, Senior Faculty, Healthcare Improvement Fellowship Program, Clinical Excellence Queensland, AustraliaTable of ContentsPreface. Editors. Contributors. 1 System Knowledge: Most of the Times Adequate but Sometimes Insufficient. 2 Safety Interventions: How Can We Make Them Worth the Effort? 3 Only a Few Seconds to Change the Course of an Event. 4 How Could the Use of Technology Support Safety Management Programmes? 5 How to Eat an Elephant: Implementing Organisational Culture Change. 6 Is Safety Part of Your Business Model? Turning a ‘Simple-to-Fix’ Safety Incident into an Opportunity for Everyone. 7 The Development of Mental Health Proxy Teams and a Relationship That Threatened the Quality of a Safety Investigation. 8 Passenger Experience and Safety Systems. 9 Safety Numbers and Safety Differently. 10 Infrastructure Projects as Complex Socio-Technical Systems. 11 The Two Sides of the Same Coin. 12 Learning from Incidents: Mind the Whole Set of Dimensions. 13 Necessary Incompliance and Safety-Threatening Collegiality. 14 Are the Stakeholders on Your Side or Not? 15 Making Safety a Priority. 16 The Practical Value of Ensuring Effective Interfaces and Workforce Engagement. 17 Just When You Thought You’d Done Enough. Index.

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Book SynopsisOutdoor Lighting for Pedestrians shows how outdoor lighting is important for pedestrians' safety, personal security, and comfort, with major impacts on street, path, and park aesthetics and neighborhood sense of place. Providing clear, basic technical background (accessible to non-engineers), the book focuses especially on planning and policy concerns. It covers the fundamentals of lighting technology; benefits, costs, and possible adverse impacts of lighting enhancements; traditional and innovative approaches; planning and policy documents and practices; aesthetics and placemaking; and technology trends in lighting design. This book is aimed primarily at practicing transportation planners and engineers, generalist urban planners, safety advocates and researchers, and university students. However, lighting designers and other professionals will also find it useful. It considers how lighting can be coordinated with other potential improvements to enhance the pedestrian environTable of Contents1. Introduction2. Lighting 101: Technical Fundamentals3. Benefits of Improving Lighting4. Costs and Potential Adverse Impacts of Lighting5. Basic Options in Lighting Equipment6. Innovative Technologies7. Policies and Planning for Enhanced Lighting8. Integrating Pedestrian Lighting into Transportation Design, Operations, and Maintenance9. Placemaking and Aesthetics: Considerations and Options10. The Future of Lighting for Pedestrians

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Borderland spaces, and the people who are navigating the violence of bordering processes within them, come alive in the pages of this worthwhile book." * Jotwell: The Journal of Things We Like (Lots) *"Borderland Circuitry’s strength is in Muñiz’s approach to detail and carefulness. . . . The book speaks to scholars and students interested in migration studies, digital surveillance studies, and ethnographical research on border and gang databases in the United States." * Border Criminologies *Table of ContentsContents List of Illustrations 1. The Land Gets Tangled in Walls and Circuitry 2. You Cross a Border and the Feds Build a Database 3. California Cops Become the Tip of the Spear 4. A Lawyer Watches a Wreck Unfold 5. ICE Rigs an Algorithm 6. We Make Our Own Maps 7. A Border Bleeds Out 8. A Hand Searches for a Root Acknowledgments Methodological Appendix: I Demand Some Documents Acronyms Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisPolitical discourse on immigration in the United States has largely focused on what is most visible, including border walls and detention centers, while the invisible information systems that undergird immigration enforcement have garnered less attention. Tracking the evolution of various surveillance-related systems since the 1980s,Borderland Circuitryinvestigates how the deployment of this information infrastructure has shaped immigration enforcement practices. Ana Muñiz illuminates three phenomena that are becoming increasingly intertwined: digital surveillance, immigration control, and gang enforcement. Using ethnography, interviews, and analysis of documents never before seen, Muñiz uncovers how information-sharing partnerships between local police, state and federal law enforcement, and foreign partners collide to create multiple digital borderlands.Diving deep into a select group of information systems,Borderland Circuitryreveals how those with legal and political powerdeploy the specter of violent cross-border criminals to justify intensive surveillance, detention, brutality, deportation, and the destruction of land for border militarization.Trade Review"Borderland spaces, and the people who are navigating the violence of bordering processes within them, come alive in the pages of this worthwhile book." * Jotwell: The Journal of Things We Like (Lots) *"Borderland Circuitry’s strength is in Muñiz’s approach to detail and carefulness. . . . The book speaks to scholars and students interested in migration studies, digital surveillance studies, and ethnographical research on border and gang databases in the United States." * Border Criminologies *Table of ContentsContents List of Illustrations 1. The Land Gets Tangled in Walls and Circuitry 2. You Cross a Border and the Feds Build a Database 3. California Cops Become the Tip of the Spear 4. A Lawyer Watches a Wreck Unfold 5. ICE Rigs an Algorithm 6. We Make Our Own Maps 7. A Border Bleeds Out 8. A Hand Searches for a Root Acknowledgments Methodological Appendix: I Demand Some Documents Acronyms Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe first complete history of the American surveillance state, from J. Edgar Hoover to ObamaTrade Review'Few writers have done more than David Price to drag the secret history of America out of the shadows and into the clarifying light of public scrutiny. In a nation obsessed with secrets, the biggest and darkest secret of all is the one Price exposes here: the deviously surreptitious - and often illegal - lengths our own government has gone to surveil and disrupt the daily lives of its own citizens' -- Jeffrey St. Clair, editor at 'CounterPunch''Wielding a finely-honed anthropological perspective and armed only with the Freedom of Information Act, David Price has spent decades of meticulous research in uncovering the sordid and often absurd history of American political surveillance. Rather than Orwell's fictional tales of Big Brother, his book makes extensive use of the files compiled by the FBI and its legions of informers to show how the realities of governmental monitoring and harassment impacted on the lives of law-abiding women and men whose words and deeds were deemed to threaten dominant power structures in American society' -- Michael Seltzer, Professor Emeritus at Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway'Relentlessly dissects the history of the American surveillance state, from the Palmer Raids to the Snowden Files and beyond. Price’s razor-sharp analysis exposes the malignant tissue connecting America’s spy agencies to the forces of capital' -- Roberto J. González, Professor and Chair of the Anthropology Department at San José State UniversityTable of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments Abbreviations and Codenames Introduction Part I: The Long View: Historical Perspectives of American Surveillance 1. J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI’s Institutionalization of Surveillance 2. Memory's Half-life: Notes on a Social History of Wiretapping in America. 3. The New Surveillance Normal: Government and Corporate Surveillance in the Age of Global Capitalism. Part II: Lanting Those with a Communist Taint 4. The Dangers of Promoting Peace During Times of [Cold] War: Gene Weltfish, the FBI, & the 1949 Waldorf Astoria’s Cultural and Scientific Conference for World Peace 5. Tribal Communism Under Fire: Archie Phinney and the FBI 6. The FBI’s History of Undermining Legal Defenses: From Jury Panel Investigations to Defense Lawyer Surveillance Programs 7. Agents of Apartheid: Ruth First and the FBI’s Historical Role of Enforcing Inequality Part III: Monitoring Pioneers and Public Intellectuals 8. How the FBI Spied on Edward Said 9. Seymour Melman: the FBI’s Persecution of the Demilitarization Movement 10. Traces of FBI Efforts to Deport a Radical Voice: On Alexander Cockburn’s FBI File 11. Medium Cool: Decades of FBI Surveillance of Haskell Wexler 12. Blind Whistling Phreaks and the FBI’s Historical Reliance on Phone Company Criminality 13. The FBI and Candy Man: Monitoring Fred Haley, A Voice of Reason During Times of Madness 14. David W. Conde, Lost CIA Critic and Cold War Seer Part IV: Policing Global Inequality 15. E. A. Hooton and the Biosocial Facts of American Capitalism 16. Walt Whitman Rostow and FBI Attacks on Liberal Anti-Communism 17. André Gunder Frank, the FBI, and the Bureaucratic Exile of a Critical Mind. 18. Angel Palerm and the FBI: Monitoring a Voice of Independence at the Organization of American States 19. The FBI’s Pursuit of Saul Landau: Portrait of the Radical as a Young Man Conclusion

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Book SynopsisThe first complete history of the American surveillance state, from J. Edgar Hoover to ObamaTrade Review'Few writers have done more than David Price to drag the secret history of America out of the shadows and into the clarifying light of public scrutiny. In a nation obsessed with secrets, the biggest and darkest secret of all is the one Price exposes here: the deviously surreptitious - and often illegal - lengths our own government has gone to surveil and disrupt the daily lives of its own citizens' -- Jeffrey St. Clair, editor at 'CounterPunch''Wielding a finely-honed anthropological perspective and armed only with the Freedom of Information Act, David Price has spent decades of meticulous research in uncovering the sordid and often absurd history of American political surveillance. Rather than Orwell's fictional tales of Big Brother, his book makes extensive use of the files compiled by the FBI and its legions of informers to show how the realities of governmental monitoring and harassment impacted on the lives of law-abiding women and men whose words and deeds were deemed to threaten dominant power structures in American society' -- Michael Seltzer, Professor Emeritus at Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway'Relentlessly dissects the history of the American surveillance state, from the Palmer Raids to the Snowden Files and beyond. Price’s razor-sharp analysis exposes the malignant tissue connecting America’s spy agencies to the forces of capital' -- Roberto J. González, Professor and Chair of the Anthropology Department at San José State UniversityTable of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments Abbreviations and Codenames Introduction Part I: The Long View: Historical Perspectives of American Surveillance 1. J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI’s Institutionalization of Surveillance 2. Memory's Half-life: Notes on a Social History of Wiretapping in America. 3. The New Surveillance Normal: Government and Corporate Surveillance in the Age of Global Capitalism. Part II: Lanting Those with a Communist Taint 4. The Dangers of Promoting Peace During Times of [Cold] War: Gene Weltfish, the FBI, & the 1949 Waldorf Astoria’s Cultural and Scientific Conference for World Peace 5. Tribal Communism Under Fire: Archie Phinney and the FBI 6. The FBI’s History of Undermining Legal Defenses: From Jury Panel Investigations to Defense Lawyer Surveillance Programs 7. Agents of Apartheid: Ruth First and the FBI’s Historical Role of Enforcing Inequality Part III: Monitoring Pioneers and Public Intellectuals 8. How the FBI Spied on Edward Said 9. Seymour Melman: the FBI’s Persecution of the Demilitarization Movement 10. Traces of FBI Efforts to Deport a Radical Voice: On Alexander Cockburn’s FBI File 11. Medium Cool: Decades of FBI Surveillance of Haskell Wexler 12. Blind Whistling Phreaks and the FBI’s Historical Reliance on Phone Company Criminality 13. The FBI and Candy Man: Monitoring Fred Haley, A Voice of Reason During Times of Madness 14. David W. Conde, Lost CIA Critic and Cold War Seer Part IV: Policing Global Inequality 15. E. A. Hooton and the Biosocial Facts of American Capitalism 16. Walt Whitman Rostow and FBI Attacks on Liberal Anti-Communism 17. André Gunder Frank, the FBI, and the Bureaucratic Exile of a Critical Mind. 18. Angel Palerm and the FBI: Monitoring a Voice of Independence at the Organization of American States 19. The FBI’s Pursuit of Saul Landau: Portrait of the Radical as a Young Man Conclusion

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Book SynopsisFeaturing an introduction by Rachel Maddow, Pegasus: How a Spy in Our Pocket Threatens the End of Privacy, Dignity, and Democracy is the behind-the-scenes story of one of the most sophisticated and invasive surveillance weapons ever created, used by governments around the world.Pegasus is widely regarded as the most effective and sought-after cyber-surveillance system on the market. The system's creator, the NSO Group, a private corporation headquartered in Israel, is not shy about proclaiming its ability to thwart terrorists and criminals. Thousands of people in Europe owe their lives to hundreds of our company employees, NSO's cofounder declared in 2019. This bold assertion may be true, at least in part, but it's by no means the whole story.NSO's Pegasus system has not been limited to catching bad guys. It's also been used to spy on hundreds, and maybe thousands, of innocent people around the world: heads of state, diplomats, human rights defenders, p

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Book SynopsisJennifer Edmond is Associate Professor of Trinity College Dublin and the co-director of the Trinity Center for Digital Humanities, Ireland. Jennifer also serves as President of the Board of Directors of the pan-European research infrastructure for the arts and humanities, DARIAH-EU and represents this body on the Open Science Policy Platform (OSPP), which supports the European Commission in developing and promoting Open Science policies. Nicola Horsley's qualitative research critiques the marginalisation of the social in various discourses and explores the dominance of scientific and technical knowledge as bases for policy and practice. Her co-authored book, Challenging the Politics of Early Intervention explores the scientific evidence base for early intervention policies.Jörg Lehmann is a post-doctoral research fellow at the Romanistic Seminar at Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Germany. He has published two monographs on war literaTrade ReviewBy examining the much-hyped phenomenon of ‘big data’ through a humanist lens, the authors provide a rich account of the possibilities and limits. They focus on the importance of culture and context for understanding how data are imagined, collected, analysed and understood. * Sally Wyatt, Professor of Digital Cultures, Maastricht University, the Netherlands *Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1: Data and Language Chapter 2: Data and Sensemaking Chapter 3: Data and Invisibility Chapter 4: Big Data and the Abyss of Aggregation Chapter 5: Data and Power Conclusion

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Book SynopsisOUR MOST NOTORIOUS CRIMINALS HAVE HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT. UNTIL NOW... ''Emily'' is a devoted single mother. ''Jack'' starts a new job in a new town. ''Russell'' may be falling in love. They all share the same secret: none of them are who they say they are. They are among only nine criminals in the UK who have been granted lifelong anonymity, for their own safety, because of their terrible crimes. But what if someone exposed their true identities to the families of their victims, who are desperate for revenge? Probation officer Olivia Campbell is caught in the crossfire of this unprecedented crisis - and as the hunt for the mole behind it all intensifies, so too does the search for the vigilante killers let loose by the leaks...Everyone is a suspect. Anyone could be a killer.Who deserves justice? And who gets to decide? Trade Review'A propulsive thriller ... Fast-moving, disturbing and thought-provoking' * GUARDIAN, Thrillers of the Month *'A stirring crime novel for the 21st century' * DAILY MAIL *'There are no easy answers in this thoughtful, harrowing thriller' * THE SUN *'Impressive and compassionate, Eye For An Eye should win prizes' * LITERARY REVIEW *

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Book SynopsisLearn How to Protect Your Family’s Freedom!Freedom is the foundation on which America was born and continues to thrive. If you believe in the strength of freedom as more than an ideal, you can find smart ways to exercise it in all parts of your life! The Freedom Bible is your A-to-Z guide to knowing your individual rights and seeking more control and freedom through the decisions you face every day. Own healthcare decisions for you and your family Make choices that direct your dollars where you want—for example, made in America, not overseas Know your options to challenge governing boards—from home ownership associations to school boards Reduce your reliance on “the grid” Escape the invasiveness of all kinds of technology Guard your privacy and free speech on social media And much more! Get freedom from…· Big Government· Big Tech· Dependence on Overseas Goods· Employer “Requirements”· HOAs· Social media jail· Spam callers· Taxes· And More!

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Book SynopsisPrivacy is one of the most contested concepts of our time. This book sets out a rigorous and comprehensive framework for understanding debates about privacy and our rights to it. Much of the conflict around privacy comes from a failure to recognise divergent perspectives. Some people argue about human rights, some about social conventions, others about individual preferences and still others about information and data processing. As a result, ‘privacy’ has become the focus of competing definitions, leading some to denounce the ‘disarray’ in the field. But as this book shows, disagreements about the role and value of privacy obscure a large amount of agreement on the topic. Privacy is not a technical term of law, cybersecurity or sociology, but a word in common use that adequately expresses a few simple and related ideas.Trade Review‘An impressively thorough and systematic – but always accessible – analysis. O'Hara sorts and sifts the different claims for what is and what is not “privacy”. O Privacy, what crimes are committed in thy name! But O'Hara! What fun you've had finding a way through the muddles and misunderstandings to establish a common language for discussing privacy. I wish I'd had access to Kieron O'Hara's excellent survey when I started out as UK Information Commissioner back in 2009. O'Hara's razor should help us to approach debates around public policy on their own merits, avoiding using “privacy” as a mere label either to support or oppose particular causes or proposals.”Christopher Graham, UK Information Commissioner, 2009–16‘O’Hara gives us a refreshingly provocative, learned, distinctive and lively book about privacy that will stimulate important debates. The vast, unwieldy body of privacy scholarship is seen through new lenses, bringing seven different levels of privacy discourse into focus. Each one veils the meaning of privacy, but all contribute to a new framework that helps to make sense of the supposed “chaos” of this subject. Illustrative discussions of seven important privacy topics and debates are related to the sevenfold framework. O’Hara’s examples and personal style keep the reader in mind along the intricate trail of de (or re)constructive analysis, and a fascinating conclusion affords important insights into privacy by refracting the analysis through the COVID-19 pandemic experience.’Charles Raab, Professor Emeritus, University of Edinburgh‘How should we talk about privacy? Before you answer that question, read this book. The seven veils of privacy is deep and erudite, yet accessible and even humorous. O’Hara takes us on a deeply researched and compelling journey through the points of disagreement in our privacy discourse. This book helps us understand why we keep talking past each other and how to have a more productive conversation about one of the most critical values of our time.’Woodrow Hartzog, Professor of Law, Boston University and author of Privacy’s Blueprint: The Battle to Control the Design of New Technologies -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction: the goal of this bookPart I: A concept in disarray?Part II: Explaining the disarrayPart III: A framework for privacy discoursesPart IV: Commentary on the frameworkPart V: Topics in privacy studiesConclusion: privacy in the time of COVIDIndex

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Book SynopsisThe gripping, behind-the scenes story of one of the most sophisticated surveillance weapons ever created, which is threatening democracy and human rights.‘Absorbing . . . a celebration of journalism and hacking being used to unmask the bad guys’ – GuardianPegasus is widely regarded as the most powerful cyber-surveillance system on the market – available to any government that can afford its multimillion-dollar price tag. The system’s creator, the NSO group, a private corporation headquartered in Israel, boasts about its ability to thwart terrorists and criminals: ‘Thousands of people in Europe owe their lives to hundreds of our company employees’, they declared in 2019. That may be true – but the Pegasus system doesn’t just catch bad guys.Pegasus has been used by repressive regimes to spy on thousands of innocent people around the world: heads of state, diplomats, human rights defenders, lawyers, political opponents, and journalists. Virtually undetectable, the system can track a person’s daily movement in real time, gain control of the device’s microphones and cameras at will, and capture all videos, photos, emails, texts, and passwords – encrypted or not. Its full reach is not even known.This is the gripping story of how Pegasus was uncovered, written by Laurent Richard and Sandrine Rigaud, the two intrepid reporters who revealed the scandal in collaboration with an international consortium of journalists. They received a leaked list of 50,000 mobile phone numbers, but they needed to prove NSO’s involvement. After a dangerous and secretive investigation spanning the globe, their findings shook the world. Tense and compelling, Pegasus reveals how thousands of lives have been turned upside down by this unprecedented threat, and exposes the chilling new ways governments and corporations are laying waste to human rights – and silencing innocent citizens.'A must-read' – New ScientistTrade ReviewThrilling . . . a timely reminder of investigative reporting’s power * New Statesman *Paced like a thriller, this is an exposé of invasive malware, and a cautionary tale * The Economist *Absorbing . . . a celebration of journalism and hacking being used to unmask the bad guys * The Guardian *A must-read for all . . . fascinating * New Scientist *Fascinating, shocking and remarkable . . . Incredible research underpins this outstanding book * Literary Review *Riveting . . . [a] captivating detective story * TLS *

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Book SynopsisHow can we achieve digital justice in the age of COVID-19? This book explores how the pandemic has transformed our use and perception of digital technologies in various settings. It also examines the right to resist or reject these technologies and the politics of refusal in different contexts and scenarios. The book offers a timely and original analysis of the new realities and challenges of digital technologies, paving the way for a post-COVID-19 future.Table of ContentsIntroduction - Kuntsman, Martin and Miyake 1. (En)forcing the Tokyo 2020 Olympics: The Racialization of Digital Disengagement and Digital Solutionism - Miyake 2. Digital Engagements and Work-life Balance in Creative Labour - Sezgin 3. '#RoeVsWadeOverturned: Any Idea How Fast Your #PeriodtrackingApp Can Lead to Jail?': Digital Disengagement and the Repeal of Roe vs Wade - Martin 4. #SnailMailRevolution: The Networked Aesthetics of Pandemic Letter-Writing Campaigns - Butkowski 5. Data Minimalism and Digital Disengagement in COVID-19 Hacktivism - Richterich 6. Digital Solutionism Meets Pandemic Imaginaries - Kuntsman 7. State Violence. Digital Harms and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Imagining Refusal, Resistance and Community Self-Defence - Gangaharan, Williams, Kuntsman, Martin and Miyake 8. Epilogue: Digital Disengagement - Questions of Pandemic and Post-Pandemic Digitalities - Kuntsman, Martin and Miyake

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Book SynopsisFrom celestial navigation to sharpening blades, Ana Maria Spagna outlines 100 skills you’ll find indispensable for life after an apocalyptic global catastrophe. She covers obvious needs like first aid and farming, while also providing suggestions on how to build a safe and culturally rich community through storytelling and music making. Full of quirky illustrations by Brian Cronin, this book will provoke surprise, debate, and laughter as it leads you to greater self-reliance and joy — whatever the future brings.

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Book SynopsisThe path forward to rein in online surveillance, AI, and tech monopolies. Technology is a gift and a curse. The five Big Tech companies—Meta, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google—have built innovative products that improve many aspects of our lives. But their intrusiveness and our dependence on them have created pressing threats to our civil rights, economy, and democracy. Coming from an extensive background building Silicon Valley–based tech startups, Tom Kemp eloquently and precisely weaves together the threats posed by Big Tech: • the overcollection and weaponization of our most sensitive data • the problematic ways Big Tech uses AI to process and act upon our data • the stifling of competition and entrepreneurship due to Big Tech’s dominant market position This richly detailed book exposes the consequences of Big Tech’s digital surveillance, exploitative use of AI, and monopolistic and anticompetitive practices. It offers actionable solutions to these problems and a clear path forward for individuals and policymakers to advocate for change. By containing the excesses of Big Tech, we will ensure our civil rights are respected and preserved, our economy is competitive, and our democracy is protected.

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Book Synopsis‘A necessary and brave read.’ Paul Kingsnorth Hope and isolation, courage and division, withdrawal and reunion – how can we find meaning as we emerge from the troubled time of Covid? Renowned social philosopher and best-selling author Charles Eisenstein offers a way forward through a series of unforgettable essays that give us a new model of sense-making in a post-Covid world. Eisenstein narrates the disintegration of an old normal, an old reality, even, an old mythology. These essays, each with a new introduction, ring with relevancy even as the charge dissipates from previously hot-button issues. Now, as we survey the post-Covid landscape, we have the opportunity to build something more sound, more whole, and more sane. The Coronation brings new clarity to a vital question whose time has come: What world shall we choose now? ‘There are moments in our history in which the art of the written word captures the extraordinary beauty of the human condition as it hangs suspended in tenuous polarity at a tipping point of evolution. The Coronation is one of these moments.’ Zach Bush, MDTrade Review"Charles Eisenstein is one of those courageous dissidents who also holds the faith that people can return to love after a hiatus of hate. As we go deeper into this new era of permacrisis, Charles’s writings will become ever more pertinent." —Professor Jem Bendell, professor of sustainability leadership; founder, Institute for Leadership and Sustainability (IFLAS), University of Cumbria (UK); founder and former coordinator, Deep Adaptation Forum"Charles Eisenstein has taken on the hardest task in the world—writing an intelligent, compassionate, and uncompromising book on the Covid-19 pandemic, without falling into either partisan hysteria or a shameless defense of power. This is a necessary and brave read." —Paul Kingsnorth, novelist; founder, Dark Mountain Project“There are moments in our history in which the art of the written word captures the extraordinary beauty of the human condition as it hangs suspended in tenuous polarity at a tipping point of evolution. The Coronation is one of these moments. In between these words that are as prophetic as they are poetic is the space of our collective metamorphosis. Tread lightly and dive deep here to find your own sovereign beauty.” —Zach Bush, MD“If there’s one thing this dangerous collection of essays about the coronavirus pandemic shows, it is that the virus that irrupted into the stolid course of our everyday lives back in 2019 is something more than a pathogen: It is an indictment of the village by the masqueraded fool outside its fences; it is a composting of the colonial altars dedicated to the worship of the one true God of knowing, science; it is a crystallization of the racialized economies of suffering and quotidian violence behind the spectacular; it is an exposé on the theatricality of contemporary politics and the care it promises good citizens. It is thought itself. We’ve been visited by this wild ferocious goddess, and few can do as well as Charles does in tracing out an ethnography of her passing. Whether or not we agree with the maps Charles composes, we will need this struggle, this wrestling-together-with-our-exposed-selves, if we hope to thrive as an entourage species.” —Bayo Akomolafe, PhD, author of These Wilds Beyond Our Fences“Charles Eisenstein is one of the most original writers working today, and his essays on the social and spiritual impact of the pandemic event are among his best work. The Coronation is essential reading for anyone concerned about the damage that has been done to our societies and how we might recover and collectively go forward from here.” —C. J. Hopkins, award-winning playwright, novelist, and political satirist"Charles Eisenstein is one of the few voices worldwide who have the capacity to be critical and gentle at the same time. His work is brilliant, crystal clear at the logical level, evocative and eloquent at the stylistic level. Charles went down the road of rationality to the very end, and at the end of it, he entered a world of mystical and spiritual knowledge and beauty. Charles’s discourse contains the seeds of a new way of living together and of a true solution for the series of crises our culture is going through at this very moment." —Mattias Desmet, author of The Psychology of Totalitarianism

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Book Synopsis'Devastating and urgent, this book could not be more timely' Caroline Criado Perez, award-winning and bestselling author of Invisible WomenDanielle Citron takes the conversation about technology and privacy out of the boardrooms and op-eds to reach readers where we are - in our bathrooms and bedrooms; with our families and our lovers; in all the parts of our lives we assume are untouchable - and shows us that privacy, as we think we know it, is largely already gone.The boundary that once protected our intimate lives from outside interests is an artefact of the twentieth century. In the twenty-first, we have embraced a vast array of technology that enables constant access and surveillance of the most private aspects of our lives. From non-consensual pornography, to online extortion, to the sale of our data for profit, we are vulnerable to abuse -- and our laws have failed miserably to keep up.With vivid examples drawn from interviews with victims, activists and lawmakers from around the world, The Fight for Privacy reveals the threat we face and argues urgently and forcefully for a reassessment of privacy as a human right. As a legal scholar and expert, Danielle Citron is the perfect person to show us the way to a happier, better protected future.Trade ReviewIt's so refreshing to read an argument for privacy that centres women - Citron presents a crucial analysis that has been sorely missing from this important debate until now. Devastating and urgent, this book could not be more timely -- Caroline Criado Perez, author of Invisible WomenThe Fight for Privacy is nothing less than the battle to keep our intimate, private selves free from exploitation. A vitally important book -- Cordelia Fine, author of A Mind Of Its OwnDanielle Keats Citron has given us a crucial book for understanding the crisis of privacy invasion, and the unrelenting damage that comes from intimate, nonconsensual surveillance. This book should be required reading for every policy maker, parent, or person who wants to reimagine privacy protections. If you care about anyone, anywhere, you should read this book -- Safiya Noble, author of Algorithms of OppressionProfessor Citron - the brilliant, ground-breaking law professor and civil rights advocate - continues her important and impactful work in helping governments, society, and the titans of the technology sector to understand that our collective failure to protect our intimate privacy amounts to a massive failing to protect our basic civil rights. Through heart-breaking accounts form victims, a careful and detailed exposition of how a range of technologies are being weaponized against us, and a detailed review of the ethical and legal landscape governing these issues, The Fight for Privacy is a must read by anyone who cares about civil rights -- Hany Farid, UC BerkeleyThis is a terrific, though terrifying, exposé about how often our intimate activities and intimate information about us end up on social media. Professor Danielle Citron makes a compelling case for a 'right to intimate privacy' under the law. This beautifully written book deserves a wide audience and hopefully will inspire needed meaningful change in the law * Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley School of Law *When your wristwatch monitors your location and your health status and your window-shopping and purchases generate information sold and combined with other information about you, the accumulation of 'little assents' produce constant surveillance, risks of manipulation, and the elimination of privacy. Danielle Citron's expert and engaging treatment of 'technology-enabled privacy violations' shows why victims, digital platforms, and legislators alike turn to her for advice and for fights to reclaim privacy morally, legally, and practically -- Martha Minow, former Dean, Harvard Law SchoolPrivacy is politics, and if we want it back we must fight for it. In this open-hearted and down-to-earth book Danielle Citron offers reasons for optimism among the ruins of our once cherished privacy. She details the devastating effects of the loss of 'intimate privacy' and argues that new rights and laws for the digital age are both long overdue and within our grasp. Lawmakers and citizens alike, this book is for you -- Shoshana Zuboff, author of The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, Professor Emeritus, Harvard Business SchoolDanielle Citron's book makes privacy undeniably and uncomfortably personal, shining a light on the ways technology is used to pry open the most intimate corners of our lives. Hers is a powerful and urgent manifesto for the protection of "intimate privacy" in the United States and beyond -- Susie Alegre, author of Freedom to Think, international human rights lawyerThe Fight for Privacy is a tour de force. Arguing convincingly that our intimate privacy is a moral necessity being eroded in frightening and accelerating ways, Citron offers trenchant clarity and lucid hope for achieving justice in our digital future. A must read -- Kate Manne, author of Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women

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Book SynopsisThe first definitive account of the rise and fall of the Secret Service, from the Kennedy assassination to the alarming mismanagement of the Obama and Trump years, right up to the insurrection at the Capitol on 6 January 2021 — by the Pulitzer Prize winner and #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of A Very Stable Genius Carol Leonnig has been reporting on the Secret Service for The Washington Post for most of the last decade, bringing to light the secrets, scandals, and shortcomings that plague the agency today — from a toxic work culture to dangerously outdated equipment to the deep resentment within the ranks at key agency leaders, who put protecting the agency’s once-hallowed image before fixing its flaws. But the Secret Service wasn’t always so troubled. The Secret Service was born in 1865, in the wake of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, but its story begins in earnest in 1963, with the death of John F. Kennedy. Shocked into reform by its failure to protect the president on that fateful day in Dallas, this once-sleepy agency was radically transformed into an elite, highly trained unit that would redeem itself several times, most famously in 1981 by thwarting an assassination attempt against Ronald Reagan. But this reputation for courage and excellence would not last forever. By Barack Obama’s presidency, the once-proud Secret Service was running on fumes and beset by mistakes and alarming lapses in judgement: break-ins at the White House, an armed gunman firing into the windows of the residence while confused agents stood by, and a massive prostitution scandal among agents in Cartagena, to name just a few. With Donald Trump’s arrival, a series of promised reforms were cast aside, as a president disdainful of public service instead abused the Secret Service to rack up political and personal gains. To explore these problems in the ranks, Leonnig interviewed dozens of current and former agents, government officials, and whistleblowers who put their jobs on the line to speak out about a hobbled agency that’s in desperate need of reform. ‘I will be forever grateful to them for risking their careers,’ she writes, ‘not because they wanted to share tantalising gossip about presidents and their families, but because they know that the Service is broken and needs fixing. By telling their story, they hope to revive the Service they love.’Trade Review‘Terrifying … There is certainly heroism here, and there are certainly plots that were foiled, and there are certainly instances of an agency in the moment being well run and foiling an attack and chasing something down and being on top of stuff. But there is an astonishing litany of stuff they have done wrong and scrapes we have narrowly avoided in this country by the skin of our teeth and through sheer luck … It just flips your stomach up and down. This is one of those books that will go down as the seminal work — the determinative work — in this field.’ -- Rachel Maddow’This book is a wake-up call, and a valuable study of a critically important agency.’ * The New York Times *‘Zero Fail is an important book, one that will ruffle feathers in need of ruffling and that will be useful to legislators, policymakers and historians alike.’ * The Washington Post *‘Here is journalism as a true and honest public service … [Zero Fail] is just terrific.’ * The Wall Street Journal *‘Leonnig's power and authority in Zero Fail is in the marriage of the big picture with details that put a stamp of 'true' on her analysis.’ * NBC-2 *‘Zero Fail, Carol Leonnig’s deeply-researched history of the agency, abounds in the colour of a valet’s-eye view of recent holders of this office.’ * TLS *‘A pacy and absorbing account of the secret service’s heroics, close calls, and blunders.’ -- Pippa Bailey * New Statesman *‘Pulitzer Prize–winning Washington Post reporter Leonnig paints a damning portrait of a federal agency in crisis … A solid case for restructuring a neglected and neglectful agency whose job is too important to admit laxity.’ * Kirkus Reviews *‘A wonderful takedown of the myths that secret service agents are the pillars of an impenetrable wall around the US president … Zero Fail is an extended account of the triumphs and failings of the service, including the near misses and ‘successful’ attempts on the lives of the president and others.’ -- Miles Kemp * The Advertiser, starred review *Praise for A Very Stable Genius: ‘[Rucker and Leonnig] are meticulous journalists, and this taut and terrifying book is among the most closely observed accounts of Donald J. Trump's shambolic tenure in office to date … A Very Stable Genius flicks the lights on from its first pages.’ -- Dwight Garner * New York Times *Praise for A Very Stable Genius: ‘Richly sourced and highly readable … It is not just another Trump tell-all or third-party confessional. It is unsettling, not salacious.’ -- Lloyd Green * The Guardian *Praise for A Very Stable Genius: ‘Imagine, for a moment, a high-octane courtroom prosecutor summing up for the jury a case built on the vivid testimony of multiple eye-witnesses … You could scarcely ask for more capable advocates. Leonnig won a Pulitzer Prize for her reporting on the US Secret Service in 2015, then joined Rucker and others on a team awarded the Pulitzer for stories on Russian interference in the 2016 election. Their new, collaborative account … walks readers step by step through the first 30 months or so of a presidency like no other. They leave little doubt that they and many of their sources regard that presidency as an unmitigated and deepening disaster — a threat to American government as we have known it. Whatever may happen to that impeachment effort in the weeks and months ahead, it creates a moment of intermission in the Trump saga and a chance to consider how the landscape has already been altered by this president. A Very Stable Genius offers a harrowing companion narrative to be read during intermission.’ -- Ron Elving * NPR *

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Book SynopsisThis book deals with the contemporary subject of perception of risk and its influence on accidents and disasters. The contents examine the conventional viewpoints on human errors, incubation of errors, complexity and organisational deviance as a cause for accidents. Work of Mary Douglas with regard to risk, Charles Perrow's work on the normal accident theory and Diane Vaughan's theory on normalisation of deviance are examined from a fresh perspective in this book. It also discusses prominent accidents in aviation, space, nuclear energy, automotive and healthcare, using the pandemic and Boeing 737 Max as a backdrop to study accidents and disasters. It further explores the background and similarities to these events and addresses the core issues such as the state of regulation, the worldview of the sociologists, and proposes that mental models of complex systems, avarice and risk for gain as other possibilities for accidents. Using the concept of nudge in behavioural economics and the Elinor Ostrom’s viewpoint on regulating for common good, it suggests a way forward through the High Reliability Organisation Theory (HRO) leading to enhanced risk perception. The book will be of interest to those who would like to understand the need to incorporate risk perception into regulation, engineers and scientists, professionals and policy makers working in the areas of disaster and risk management, technology areas like aviation, nuclear plants, space and healthcare, students of the sociology of risk and of course the general reader.Table of ContentsIntroduction.- Incidents, Accidents and Unmitigated Disasters.- Learning from Failures – Evolution of Risk and Safety Regulation.- Keep it Simple but Not Stupid - Complex Technology and Complex Organisations.- Are Failures Stepping Stones to More Failures - The Sociology of Danger and Risk.- To Err is Human – What exactly is Human Error?.- What I Do Not Know Will Hurt Me - Mental Models and Risk Perception.- Is Greed Really that Good - Avarice and Gain versus Risk and Blame.- And There is Dr. Kato: How Does it Look and Where Do We Go from Here?.

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