Within six weeks of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Congress approved the USA Patriot Act, drafted in secret by the Department of Justice. Brasch, an award-winning syndicated columnist and university professor, looks at the effects of the Patriot Act on the nation and at the many civil rights violations conducted in the US, and by the US in foreign countries, during the three years after 9/11. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)