Seek and Hide by Amy Gajda

SEEK AND HIDE, The Tangled History of the Right to Privacy, by Amy Gajda is “just the sort of road map we could use right now” according to The Atlantic. And indeed, Gajda has been commenting on the recent execution of a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago (see this piece for Wired magazine) and on the relationship between abortion and the right to privacy (in this Time magazine article). She begins her new book with a short primer on the four types of US law: Constitutional (federal and state), enacted statutes, regulations, and the common law created through the judicial system. Subsequent chapters deal with the rise of privacy and the rise of media as well as more recent debates on topics like the right to be forgotten. Gajda stresses that tension exists between the individual's right to privacy and the public's right to know the truth. She frames the discussion within an historical context and illustrates her points with stories and anecdotes (with several, for example, involving Louis Brandeis and Oliver Wendell Holmes), but the topic is quite complicated, particularly for an average reader. Throughout this sometimes surprising and always thoughtful review Gajda’s expertise, both as a journalist and as the Class of 1937 Professor of Law at Tulane Law School, is evident. An extensive set of notes, lengthy bibliography, and useful index are included.