Today's American: How Free?

by Arch Puddington (Contributor), Jason Kelly

TodayOs American: How Free? assesses the state of American freedom in the post-9/11 period. Conducted by Freedom House, the study looks at a broad range of rights and liberties, including the electoral process, freedom of the press, counterterrorism policies, corruption, freedom of belief, academic freedom, race relations, immigration, property rights, and equality of opportunity. The study places current problems in their historical context and compares American performance with the state of freedom in Europe. It applies the same rigorous analytical criteria to American freedom as Freedom House applies to other countries in the world in its roster of democracy surveys. The study concludes that the problems that the United States faced prior to 9/11_including racial inequality, problems with the criminal justice system, and weaknesses in the electoral system_present a greater challenge to freedom over the long term than do the civil liberties problems that have emerged with the war on terrorism.

322 pages, Hardcover

First published February 28, 2008