All Americans should be deeply troubled by violations of fundamental freedoms in the US 'war on terror'. This is the only comprehensive account of efforts during the Bush and Obama administrations to defend the rule of law against egregious wrongs committed in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, torture, wiretapping, civilian casualties, and targeted killings.

1. Defending the rule of law; 2. Abu Ghraib; 3. Guantánamo Bay; 4. Interrogation; 5. Electronic surveillance; 6. Ius in Bello; 7. The resilience of the rule of law.

Richard L. Abel is Connell Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus and Distinguished Research Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the former President of the Law and Society Association, former Vice President of the International Sociological Association Research Committee on Sociology of Law, and a prize winner in both. He is the author of Speaking Respect, Respecting Speech (1998) and Politics by Other Means: Law in the Struggle against Apartheid, 1980-94 (1995), as well as numerous other books on lawyers and the legal profession.