The Perils of Global Transparency: Why the Information Revolution May Not Lead to Security, Democracy, or Peace. By Kristin M. Lord. Albany: SUNY Press, 2006. $65.00 cloth, $21.95 paper.

Kristin M. Lord's book title sums up her provocative and thought-provoking main arguments. The conventional wisdom is that transparency usually reduces unwarranted fears and worst-case assumptions, and reduces corruption in government and business. Transparency can thereby calm arms races, prevent wars, and promote understanding, democracy, wealth generation, and justice. Lord's clearly written book is the single most pointed attack on these widely held views. This is its major contribution, and it builds on her work with Bernard I. Finel with whom she coedited Power and Conflict in the Age of Transparency (2002). (See also James Marquardt, “Why Transparency in International Relations is not What it Appears to Be,” Ph.D. diss.,University of Chicago, 1998.)