BOOK REVIEW: ‘The Liberal War on Transparency’

An intriguing and painstakingly in-depth glimpse into the hypocrisy of the Obama administration, “The Liberal War on Transparency: Confessions of a Freedom of Information ‘Criminal,’” catalogs the author’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) fiascos. In a rollicking tale of hilarious frustrations and disturbing government shenanigans, Christopher Horner shines the proverbial spotlight on some self-described spotlight-shiners who are anything but.

Mr. Horner, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute — a free-market think tank in Washington — recalls the history of the transparent-government movement, which was lauded by progressives such as Supreme CourtJustice Louis Brandeis and President Franklin D. Roosevelt and codified in FOIA under Lyndon B. Johnson.