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WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy Audiobook
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Publisher Description
A team of journalists with unparalleled inside access provides the first full, in-depth account of WikiLeaks, its founder Julian Assange, and the ethical, legal, and political controversies it has both uncovered and provoked.
The extraordinary twists and turns of WikiLeaks have been closely followed by the Guardian newspaper ever since the website launched in 2006, and Guardian journalists have had unprecedented access to all the major players, from angry and embarrassed politicians and diplomats to the extraordinary figure of Julian Assange himself. At different times Assange hid at David Leigh’s homes. Here they reveal the many strands—legal, ethical, security related—of a story that continues to dominate world headlines. They look at the Internet culture and technology that made the mining of secret information possible and at the fanatical hackers who set up WikiLeaks. They explore the secret goings-on that WikiLeaks has uncovered, from the revelation of extrajudicial killings in Kenya in 2008 to the avalanche of US diplomatic cables in 2010. They study the implications of the latest revelations and reveal the strange and contradictory nature of Assange himself: a man praised by Amnesty International in 2009 but also, barely a year later, accused by Swedish police of sex crimes.
The WikiLeaks story has received worldwide attention and reaction. WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy presents the whole history of the organization and the ethical debate that surrounded the use of its material, plus the inside story of the personalities that created then threatened to destroy the website that has changed our view of secrecy forever.
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"Eminently readable account of Assange and the Wikileaks saga from the Guardian hacks who worked with him on the release of much of the leaked US material into the public domain. Assange is a divisive figure of course, but you may finish this feeling sorry for his helper, the US marine Bradley Manning. He can look forward to years in jail while the authors point out that State Department got over the disclosures remarkably quickly and even Assange has scored a book deal. The key US cables are at the back of the book and make for an informative read if you wonder about how governments conduct foreign affairs."
— Neil (4 out of 5 stars)
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“In unraveling the murky details, the book has also provided a rip-roaring narrative of secrets, tantrums, technological wizardry, personal betrayal and vengeance.”
— Irish Independent -
“Fantastic…a complicated story of the relationship between a man who is a fanatical political activist (Assange) with no formal journalistic training and no background in the media, and a group of esteemed, famous professional media practitioners.”
— Kaietur News -
“The novelistic lens serves an important purpose by painting a richer, more three-dimensional portrait of the people behind WikiLeaks and the controversies in which they became embroiled.”
— Eurasian Review -
“A manifesto for the future of professional journalism.”
— TechCrunch
WikiLeaks Listener Reviews
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" Very good considering how hastily it was rushed to press. "
— Steven, 2/20/2014 -
" Actually borrowed this book two weeks ago from the library, and I must indeed say the authors did a pretty good job in detailing us the life and works of this hacker-cum-journo-gone molester-gone celebrity, another reason to rally behind the man of the moment Julian Assange and the idea of free access of information! Keep it up the guardian veterans... "
— Tulonga, 2/19/2014 -
" See Oxonian review archive. "
— Joel, 2/16/2014 -
" Well-written and engaging - kept my attention through to the end. "
— Rainey, 2/6/2014 -
" I'm not telling you what I think of this book, because it's a secret. However, it really was a Lady Gaga CD. Allegedly. "
— Peter, 1/19/2014 -
" I couldn't put this down. A fascinating expose by London Guardian reporters into Assange's personality and the process of releasing the Afghanistan, Iraq, and diplomatic logs to the public. Goes into great detail about the Swedish rape charges. "
— Zachary, 1/6/2014 -
" These are the people from The Gaurdian "
— BAKU, 12/29/2013 -
" A good overview of the Wikileaks saga, particularly the process of partnering with the media. "
— Matt, 12/26/2013 -
" Four stars because it was a good book, 1 star because I liked it a lot. "
— Blake, 12/9/2013 -
" intriguing but questionable.. "
— Elizabeth, 12/5/2013 -
" Covers Wikileaks from the point of view of the Guardian. The story is split between Assange and Manning and mostly covers Wikileaks after they had approached the major newspapers. Daniel Domscheit-Berg's book is a much more interesting read. "
— Stuart, 5/10/2013 -
" A solid review of the rise and rise of Wikileaks. It is a chronological narrative but offers some insight into both social and informational transgression. "
— Tara, 5/4/2013 -
" Informative, but just not as compelling as I thought it would be. A book like this may make more sense once we see the broader impacts of Wikileaks on media, organizational secrecy and the world in general. "
— Marc, 4/23/2013 -
" Interesting: surtout 5 big journals' cooperation "
— Framfraisee, 4/20/2013 -
" Interesting, informative and probably the first in a long line of Wikileaks books that will come out in the near future. "
— James, 1/22/2013 -
" The book itself is bored, but still it's a worth book to read any one who interest in the century's revolution. "
— Narada, 12/3/2012 -
" It was just okay, except the author kept repeating himself, and lost me in somewhere in the middle, but I finished anyway. "
— Shandra, 1/30/2012 -
" Interesting book, many of the background stories for the major leaks (like 'cablegate'). We don't get the know much beyond the surface-Assange, who comes off as a bit of a jerk. "
— djcb, 9/18/2011 -
" The first hundred pages of this book are pretty worthless, but by the end the pace picks up. It's kind of like an All The President's Men for the digital era - although the result is actually pretty light on political intrigue and pretty heavy on Julian Assange's loutish behavior. "
— Noah, 8/22/2011
About the Authors
David Leigh is a British journalist, author, editor, and Anthony Sampson Professor of Reporting in the journalism department at City University London. He has been a prominent investigative journalist since the 1970s and is currently investigations editor of the Guardian. He was educated at Nottingham High School and King’s College, Cambridge, receiving a research degree from Cambridge in 1968. He was a journalist for the Scotsman, Times, and Guardian (UK) and a Laurence Stern fellow at the Washington Post in 1980. From 1980, he was chief investigative reporter at the Observer.
Luke Harding is an author and award-winning foreign correspondent with the London Guardian. He has reported from Delhi, Berlin, and Moscow and has also covered wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Libya and Syria. Between 2007 and 2011 he was the Guardian’s Moscow bureau chief. He is the author of several books, including The Liar: The Fall of Jonathan Aitken, which was nominated for the Orwell Prize. In 2014 he won the prestigious James Cameron prize.
About Richard Powers
Richard Powers has published thirteen novels. He is a MacArthur Fellow and received the National Book Award. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Overstory, and Bewilderment was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.