Two things are going on here. This is a good essay-length description of the draconian measures taken to quell dissent during WWI in America. I enjoyed that essay, and I enjoyed the fact that it was illustrated. It ends a bit too patly, and never quite calls the sins of the Bush Administration out for what they were, but it's a good summary of the earlier war.

But the design gets in the way. I kept trying to figure out why I found it familiar, and then I realized: high school textbooks. The bold typography, the cavernous leading, the constant sidebars -- these would be intriguing if used sparingly, but there must be some trend in scholastic pedagogy that requires them to be festooned like candy over every two page spread. It was distracting, and hurt the overall flow of what is otherwise a good political and historical essay.