Over the past 15 years, people in the United States – dissidents in particular – have witnessed a steady escalation of the National Security State, including invasive surveillance, indiscriminate police violence and unlawful arrests. Normally associated with the realities of a post-9/11 world, these developments were actually being set in motion during the Republican National Convention (RNC) protests in 2000, as Crashing the Party shows. It also documents how, in response, dissidents confronted new forms of political repression by pushing legal boundaries.