An uneven but thought provoking survey of spying and surveillance throughout history and how they intertwine with control of the masses and authoritarianism.

Things get off to a slow start as Greenberg goes back a little too far in history, mythology and the Bible giving us the stories of the Trojan Horse, Lady Godiva, and Judas Iscariot. Their inclusion is a bit of a stretch despite Greenberg's efforts to justify them. His theme becomes stronger in the fourth chapter as he introduces Jeremy Bentham and the Panopticon.

From there he jumps through the decades a bit haphazardly but paints a pretty good picture of consistent government overreach and general public indifference. The chapters tend to stand alone, so this is a good candidate to read a little at a time.

There are a few missteps like one chapter devoted to a fictional conversation between George Orwell and Michel Foucault and the weak framing sequence with some guy named Iggy Stone walking around randomly and eventually ending up lecturing some students in a classroom. ( )