Permanent Record: A Memoir of a Reluctant Whistleblower - Softcover

Snowden, Edward

Softcover

ISBN 10: 152903566X ISBN 13: 9781529035667

Publisher: Macmillan, 2019

Synopsis

THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER

Edward Snowden, the man who risked everything to expose the US government’s system of mass surveillance, reveals for the first time the story of his life, including how he helped to build that system and what motivated him to try to bring it down.

In 2013, twenty-nine-year-old Edward Snowden shocked the world when he broke with the American intelligence establishment and revealed that the United States government was secretly pursuing the means to collect every single phone call, text message, and email. The result would be an unprecedented system of mass surveillance with the ability to pry into the private lives of every person on earth. Six years later, Snowden reveals for the very first time how he helped to build this system and why he was moved to expose it.

Spanning the bucolic Beltway suburbs of his childhood and the clandestine CIA and NSA postings of his adulthood, Permanent Record is the extraordinary account of a bright young man who grew up online – a man who became a spy, a whistleblower, and, in exile, the Internet’s conscience. Written with wit, grace, passion, and an unflinching candor, Permanent Record is a crucial memoir of our digital age and destined to be a classic.

About this title

Review

Riveting, pacy, Financial Times

The world's most famous whistleblower, Guardian

Fascinating, Observer

A riveting account . . . Reads like a literary thriller, New York Times

Gripping, Washington Post

His disclosures of mass surveillance and bulk collection of personal information are as relevant now as they were in 2013, Guardian

Full of surprises . . . A deeply reluctant whistleblower . . . he deserves our thanks, The Nation

Well-written, The Economist

A very significant figure in the history of intelligence, Sunday Times

Thriller plot, London Review of Books

From the Back Cover

Edward Snowden, the man who risked everything to expose the US government's system of mass surveillance, reveals for the first time the story of his life, including how he helped to build that system and what motivated him to try to bring it down.

In 2013, twenty-nine-year-old Edward Snowden shocked the world when he broke with the American intelligence establishment and revealed that the United States government was secretly pursuing the means to collect every single phone call, text message, and email. The result would be an unprecedented system of mass surveillance with the ability to pry into the private lives of every person on earth. Six years later, Snowden reveals for the very first time how he helped to build this system and why he was moved to expose it.

Spanning the bucolic Beltway suburbs of his childhood and the clandestine CIA and NSA postings of his adulthood, Permanent Record is the extraordinary account of a bright young man who grew up online - a man who became a spy, a whistleblower, and, in exile, the Internet's conscience. Written with wit, grace, passion, and an unflinching candor, Permanent Record is a crucial memoir of our digital age and destined to be a classic.

Edition details

• Publisher: Macmillan
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 152903566X
• ISBN 13: 9781529035667
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 352