Greenwald is a must-follow and must-read on the internets. Even though he's dedicated several book-length takedowns to the Bushies, he's shown similar tenacity and revulsion in his writings on the Obama administration. When you get hate mail from apologists on both sides of the aisle, you're doing something right.

"With Liberty and Justice for Some" is tough to rate because part of the book's success hinges on how well the reader is acquainted with the thesis (to a degree unprecedented in American history, the elite class is able to subvert the law and bend the law to their profit-driven will) and the case studies Greenwald dissects (the telecom fiasco, the Wall Street fiasco, the torture fiasco, the drug war fiasco, etc.) If you come into the book with little previous background in those areas, this will be an enraging eye-opener; otherwise, it's "merely" an enraging reminder.

If you're the type of reader who needs a final chapter like "What You Can Do to Help and Feel Better About All of This" or "Some Light at the End of the Tunnel," you're going to come away disappointed.

A very good but depressing account of the state of the rule of law in the US: Non-existent. While the wealthy basically now trade a system of favors for never being held accountable for their crimes (starting with the Nixon pardon, going on and accelerating today under the Obama-administration for the banks), the poorer ranks of the US are locked up in a prison system so strict and large it's in a league of its own in the world. This started in the 60s, when after the civil rights movement the language shifted from racism to being "tough on crime", which of course does not work but is a main pillar of any political campaign today. But - don't fret - with alleged terrorist who aren't even persons anymore, a new bottom layer has been founded and is defended by the Obama administration. The US are a plutocracy, a police state and an oligarchy now - Gleen Greenwald makes the succint case why, and also shows that the media happily cojoin in the process.

The good things about this book:

It is exhaustingly well-researched. If I could describe this book in one word, it would be "thorough."

I like how he he traces the beginning of the problem to Watergate. Today I learned!

Greenwald, as always, has a great voice that is refreshingly unassuming. I love the times when he quotes his own blog to show that he was wrong about something. The world would be a better place with more people like him.

The bad things about this book:

As many other reviewers have pointed out, this book doesn't tell you anything you don't already know. If you read the news regularly, especially if you read Greenwald's blog on Salon (check and check for me personally), this book is old news to you.

By far my biggest complaint about the book is that it's all problem, no solution. Greenwald exhaustively lays out the problem, but never once takes the small extra step to suggest possible courses of action for those of us (like myself) who are already in the choir to which he is preaching.

Maybe I've developed an unfair standard. After all, Greenwald never says he sets out to prescribe a solution, so why should I expect one of him? I think it's simply because there is no new content in this book, but I kept waiting for there to be.

I think Greenwald is in a unique place in that he is well-educated, thoughtful, compassionate, has an incredible knowledge of law, and is focused like a laser on justice. Combined with the fact that he has an audience willing and ready to listen to him, I was hoping he would do some analysis and suggest possible courses of action to the very real, terrifying problem he lays out.

When I said above that the book was thorough, it was only half a compliment. This book makes me think of George Lakoff's writing: I feel that Greenwald falls into the trap that Lakoff describes and that liberals so often fall into. Liberals love their facts and statistics, but aren't very good with punchy messaging. Greenwald loves his facts, statistics, quotes, and charts, but he's not winning any converts with this book.

Once again, maybe an unfair standard, because Greenwald never claims he's going to persuade anyone. But I can't help but think he intended this book to win converts - why else do you do such thorough research?

TL;DR - I didn't like this book (even though I love Greenwald's blog!) because it regurgitates the news ad nauseum and is too focused on the problem. Now we need solutions! I'm not even looking for him to definitively settle on one idea that is completely correct (then he'd be Paul Krugman, and the world can't handle two of him), but even a suggestion or two offered for the readers to think about would have been nice.

Well written, like everything else Greenwald writes. Only caveat I have is that if you read him regularly, this book will retread ground you already know.

Witheringly critical overview of the two-tiered system of justice in America. It mostly focuses its fire on the immunity of elites, both moneyed and politically powerful, while also discussing the increasing punishment of the poor and unconnected. The political immunity thread is the strongest, following from Nixon's pardon through to Obama's insistence on "looking forward, not backward" on the Bush administration's admittance of torture. Greenwald also illustrates plainly the media's complicity.

The writing is powerful and insightful. He should be much more highly respected than he is, rather than derisively given the epitaph of "blogger" when discussed in the pages of newspapers. That in and of itself is insight into the fact that status is conferred not based on the rigor and strength of one's arguments but on one's adherence to saying "reasonable" things.

This book is an indictment of our justice system. If that sounds challenging or interesting, you should read it.