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9780198749660

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`We live in an age George Orwell predicted, yet we hardly understand it. Thankfully, Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones does. With style and wit, intelligence and humanity, he analyses the role of state surveillance but also reveals the more pervasive crisis of private snooping. A book of insight and importance, We Know All About You is the definitive history of surveillance in Britain and America.' Andrew Preston, Cambridge University `No challenge is greater in the democratic nations than preserving privacy and civil liberties in this rush toward greater security at all costs. Over the years, Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones has proven his ability to grapple with this struggle between the forces of privacy, on the one hand, and security, on the other hand. With this new book, he offers an exceptionally insightful examination of how Britain and America have tried to cope with the threat of modern terrorism, as they have stumbled from a devotion to security, then to privacy, and back to security again, seeking the elusive Golden Mean between these two values that would protect democratic principles while defeating the ruthless enemies of liberty. The challenge continues and in this readable volume Jeffreys-Jones helps clarify the pathways ahead with his usual wisdom and reliable analysis.' Loch K. Johnson, author of National Security Intelligence

We live in an age George Orwell predicted, yet we hardly understand it. Thankfully, Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones does. With style and wit, intelligence and humanity, he analyses the role of state surveillance but also reveals the more pervasive crisis of private snooping. A book of insight and importance, We Know All About You is the definitive history of surveillance in Britain and America. Andrew Preston, Cambridge University No challenge is greater in the democratic nations than preserving privacy and civil liberties in this rush toward greater security at all costs. Over the years, Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones has proven his ability to grapple with this struggle between the forces of privacy, on the one hand, and security, on the other hand. With this new book, he offers an exceptionally insightful examination of how Britain and America have tried to cope with the threat of modern terrorism, as they have stumbled from a devotion to security, then to privacy, and back to security again, seeking the elusive Golden Mean between these two values that would protect democratic principles while defeating the ruthless enemies of liberty. The challenge continues and in this readable volume Jeffreys-Jones helps clarify the pathways ahead with his usual wisdom and reliable analysis. Loch K. Johnson, author of National Security Intelligence

No challenge is greater in the democratic nations than preserving privacy and civil liberties in this rush toward greater security at all costs. Over the years, Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones has proven his ability to grapple with this struggle between the forces of privacy, on the one hand, and security, on the other hand. With this new book, he offers an exceptionally insightful examination of how Britain and America have tried to cope with the threat of modern terrorism, as they have stumbled from a devotion to security, then to privacy, and back to security again, seeking the elusive Golden Mean between these two values that would protect democratic principles while defeating the ruthless enemies of liberty. The challenge continues and in this readable volume Jeffreys-Jones helps clarify the pathways ahead with his usual wisdom and reliable analysis. * Loch K. Johnson, author of National Security Intelligence * We live in an age George Orwell predicted, yet we hardly understand it. Thankfully, Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones does. With style and wit, intelligence and humanity, he analyses the role of state surveillance but also reveals the more pervasive crisis of private snooping. A book of insight and importance, We Know All About You is the definitive history of surveillance in Britain and America. * Andrew Preston, Cambridge University * Fascinating. * Times Higher Education Supplement * Rigorous and highly readable. * Ian Cobain, The Guardian * A brilliant and well-researched book. Entertaining and engaging, it tells the story of surveillance...in a compelling way. Highly recommended. * Catherine Balavage, Frost Magazine * Thought-provoking... We Know challenges us to re-assess our notions and attitudes towards mass surveillance. * Lorraine Chimbga, Society for Computers and Law * A fascinating, if not a troubling, read. * Arthur Chappell, Science Fact & Science Fiction Concatenation *

No challenge is greater in the democratic nations than preserving privacy and civil liberties in this rush toward greater security at all costs. Over the years, Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones has proven his ability to grapple with this struggle between the forces of privacy, on the one hand, and security, on the other hand. With this new book, he offers an exceptionally insightful examination of how Britain and America have tried to cope with the threat of modern terrorism, as they have stumbled from a devotion to security, then to privacy, and back to security again, seeking the elusive Golden Mean between these two values that would protect democratic principles while defeating the ruthless enemies of liberty. The challenge continues and in this readable volume Jeffreys-Jones helps clarify the pathways ahead with his usual wisdom and reliable analysis. * Loch K. Johnson, author of National Security Intelligence * We live in an age George Orwell predicted, yet we hardly understand it. Thankfully, Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones does. With style and wit, intelligence and humanity, he analyses the role of state surveillance but also reveals the more pervasive crisis of private snooping. A book of insight and importance, We Know All About You is the definitive history of surveillance in Britain and America. * Andrew Preston, Cambridge University * Fascinating. * Times Higher Education Supplement * Rigorous and highly readable. * Ian Cobain, The Guardian * A brilliant and well-researched book. Entertaining and engaging, it tells the story of surveillance...in a compelling way. Highly recommended. * Catherine Balavage, Frost Magazine * Thought-provoking... We Know challenges us to re-assess our notions and attitudes towards mass surveillance. * Lorraine Chimbga, Society for Computers and Law * A fascinating, if not a troubling, read. * Arthur Chappell, Science Fact & Science Fiction Concatenation * Comprehensive... unique. * Jennifer Daskal, Foreign Affairs *

No challenge is greater in the democratic nations than preserving privacy and civil liberties in this rush toward greater security at all costs. Over the years, Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones has proven his ability to grapple with this struggle between the forces of privacy, on the one hand, and security, on the other hand. With this new book, he offers an exceptionally insightful examination of how Britain and America have tried to cope with the threat of modern terrorism, as they have stumbled from a devotion to security, then to privacy, and back to security again, seeking the elusive Golden Mean between these two values that would protect democratic principles while defeating the ruthless enemies of liberty. The challenge continues and in this readable volume Jeffreys-Jones helps clarify the pathways ahead with his usual wisdom and reliable analysis. * Loch K. Johnson, author of National Security Intelligence * We live in an age George Orwell predicted, yet we hardly understand it. Thankfully, Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones does. With style and wit, intelligence and humanity, he analyses the role of state surveillance but also reveals the more pervasive crisis of private snooping. A book of insight and importance, We Know All About You is the definitive history of surveillance in Britain and America. * Andrew Preston, Cambridge University * Fascinating. * Times Higher Education Supplement * Rigorous and highly readable. * Ian Cobain, The Guardian * A brilliant and well-researched book. Entertaining and engaging, it tells the story of surveillance...in a compelling way. Highly recommended. * Catherine Balavage, Frost Magazine * Thought-provoking... We Know challenges us to re-assess our notions and attitudes towards mass surveillance. * Lorraine Chimbga, Society for Computers and Law * A fascinating, if not a troubling, read. * Arthur Chappell, Science Fact & Science Fiction Concatenation * Comprehensive... unique. * Jennifer Daskal, Foreign Affairs * In this outstanding, brief overview of the history of surveillance and debates surrounding it in the UK and US, University of Edinburgh academic Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones challenges head-on Orwells representation of the secret state in his celebrated dystopian novel... overall, the author has presented a convincing critique of Orwellian statism. * Richard Lance Keeble (Lincoln and Liverpool Hope University), George Orwell Studies Vol. 2, No.1 2017 *

Author Information

Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones is Emeritus Professor of American History at the University of Edinburgh and has held postdoctoral fellowships at Harvard, the Free University of Berlin, and Toronto. The founder of the Scottish Association for the Study of America, of which is he the current honorary president, he has also published widely on intelligence history, including The CIA and American Democracy (1989), The FBI: A History (2007), and In Spies We Trust: The Story of Western Intelligence , the last of these also published by Oxford University Press (2013). He was the winner of the 2014 Neustadt Prize for the best UK book on American politics with The American Left: Its Impact on Politics and Society (2013).

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