A magisterial exploration of whistleblowing in America, from the Revolutionary War to the Trump era A "brisk and interesting" (Jill Lepore, New Yorker) exploration of whistleblowing in America, from the Revolutionary War to the Trump era PROSE Award winner in the Government, Policy and Politics category > Analyzing a range of whistleblowing episodes, from the corrupt Revolutionary War commodore Esek Hopkins (whose dismissal led in 1778 to the first whistleblower protection law) to Edward Snowden, to the dishonesty of Donald Trump, Allison Stanger reveals the centrality of whistleblowing to the health of American democracy. She also shows that with changing technology and increasing militarization, the exposure of misconduct has grown more difficult to do and more personally costly for those who do it--yet American freedom, especially today, depends on it.