Lebovic's "State of Silence"

Sam Lebovic, George Mason University, has published State of Silence: The Espionage Act and the Rise of America's Secrecy Regime (Basic Books):

In State of Silence, political historian Sam Lebovic uncovers the troubling history of the Espionage Act. First passed in 1917, it was initially used to punish critics of World War I. Yet as Americans began to balk at the act’s restrictions on political dissidents and the press, the government turned its focus toward keeping its secrets under wraps. The resulting system for classifying information is absurdly cautious, staggeringly costly, and shrouded in secrecy, preventing ordinary Americans from learning what their country is doing in their name, both at home and abroad.  

Shedding new light on the bloated governmental security apparatus that’s weighing our democracy down, State of Silence offers the definitive history of America’s turn toward secrecy—and its staggering human costs.  

Here is an endorsement:

“A thoughtful and much-needed study of one of the most controversial laws in United States history. From World War I through the Trump indictments, the Espionage Act has shaped some of our most dramatic political moments. Sam Lebovic’s book is an essential guide to this history of trial and error—and to the law of unintended consequences.”
 
Beverly Gage, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of G-Man

We know of two events for the book: From Spies to Leakers: The History of the Espionage Act, an online event at the National Constitution Center on December 4, and a State of Silence: The Espionage Act, Politics, and Press Freedom, a panel discussion at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, on December 6.

--Dan Ernst