I decided to reread this for the first time since grad school because I assigned a few chapters to my students this semester and my main takeaways from this reread are 1) this book shaped my worldview and research agenda in more ways than I realized, 2) you could write the same book now but substitute crime & drugs with crime & immigration, 3) a reaffirmed belief that examining political and media rhetoric MATTERS in tangible ways, and 4) I feel incredibly motivated to keep doing what I’m trying to do in my crime, justice, and media class this semester. It’s a small effort in the grand scheme of ever-encroaching techno authoritarianism but I do feel like I can really empower these students