January

Late to the party.

Edward Snowden — Permanent Record.

7.5/10

The book provides an autobiographical account of Snowden’s journey from American patriot to successful intelligence officer to political dissident and whistleblower, a story few can pretend to remain unaware of by now.

Snowden leaves little out of this work. It is highly emotional, incredibly personal, and laced throughout with the abrasive cockiness of a man who gave up every single thing he had for one cause and wants you to know all about it. And there is no denying that this is a man in possession of genuine bravery and a rare character. The final few chapters in particular have an eerily real Spy-Novel tone, both to leave no doubt as to the existential danger into which Snowden’s principles placed him, and also to remind us that behind the bravado and hollywood glamour, intelligence agencies do things every day that — if publicised — would drop jaws.

Parts of Snowden’s tale are shocking. Others come across as smug. Some chapters are even slightly boring. But what shines through the whole text is the image of Ed as poster child for the dystopian story of our internet age. A talented, geeky programmer who revels in the internet’s liberated early days has his talents turned to patriotic service by 9/11, where those same talents are used to reconstruct American intelligence as an Orwellian surveillance machine. Then, that same man stands against his peers in rejecting the powers given to him by his computing talents, instead recognising the things he had done for what they are: a decimation of his and his nation’s values. Having the courage to acknowledge one’s own moral compass being broken is something. To then throw everything away, sacrifice it all, so that the world can know… that’s something else.

Snowden is a hero, undeniably. On so many occasions in this reading I found myself asking whether I could do what he did, and what was ever more remarkable were the risks he took to do it. There was absolutely no guarantee of his safety; no guarantee, even, of the story getting out. If things had worked out even the slightest bit differently, this book would not exist and the only people with the knowledge of what Edward Snowden did would be the guards standing outside his high-security cell.

It was selfish, too, in some ways. His family suffered greatly as a result. And yet, there can be no denying of the cultural and political impact of his courage and principle. Snowden’s story reflects perfectly the tensions of the post-9/11 age in such an iconic way. A world where nobody can be trusted and everything is on the table — including the very constitutional values that he first swore to protect. So we all should read this book. Seriously, its important.