What Changed When Everything Changed

In this stirring protest over the direction of America's political conversation since the events of September 11, 2001, Joseph Margulies traces the evolving direction of American discourse. He shows how certain ideas that once seemed clearly antithetical to American ideals have now gained a foothold. When did torture become permissible? When did it become acceptable to demonize an entire religion based on the actions of a few? Margulies' penetrating analysis reflects his close involvement with such issues - he was counsel of record in 2004 for the first Supreme Court case regarding detentions at Guantanamo Bay, and in 2008 he was counsel of record for the first and only Supreme Court cases involving overseas detention of U.S. citizens in the war on terror. Margulies recalls that in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, there was a shared determination to preserve national identity, but since then the national narrative has unexpectedly veered off course, becoming far more repressive and alarmist. Margulies argues persuasively that national identity is not fixed but dynamic, and he warns, "National identity is what we make of it. Woe unto them who abandon the struggle, for the soul of the nation is at stake".