The Age of WikiLeaks: From Collateral Murder to Cablegate

by Greg Mitchell

Now available in Kindle edition: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004MME152

The first book to chart the incredible rise of WikiLeaks, and its political and media impact, from April 2010 to late-January 2011, written by award-winning author Greg Mitchell, whose daily WikiLeaks blog at The Nation has gained a vast worldwide audience. Includes gripping, revelatory chapters on every major WikiLeaks release of the past year, current controversies, up close with Julian Assange, the Bradley Manning case, and what lies ahead in the brave new world of leaking...

"From the moment I discovered Greg Mitchell's amazing WikiLeaks blog it has become indispensable. 'The Age of WikiLeaks' follows in the footsteps of his brilliant books on nuclear threat, the Iraq war, the media and American politics."
- Daniel Ellsberg

"One of the nation's most insightful journalists, Greg Mitchell, tackles in this book one of the most fascinating and important political controversies of the last decade: WikiLeaks. Few commentators know more about this vital topic. Mitchell's daily blog has been a must-read for anyone following the WikiLeaks saga."
- Glenn Greenwald, Salon.com

Genres: History, Politics

156 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 28, 2011

About the author

Greg Mitchell (born 1947) is the author of more than a dozen books. His new book (2020) is "The Beginning or the End: How Hollywood--and America--Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" (The New Press). His previous book, from Crown, has been optioned for a major movie. It is titled "The Tunnels" and explores daring escape tunnels under the Berlin Wall in 1962--and the JFK White House attempts to kill NBC and CBS coverage of them at the height of nuclear tensions.

Mitchell has blogged on the media and politics, for The Nation. and at his own blog, Pressing Issjes. He was the editor of Editor & Publisher (E&P), from 2002 to the end of 2009, and long ago was executive editor at the legendary Crawdaddy. His book "The Campaign of the Century" won the Goldsmith Book Prize and "Tricky Dick and the Pink Lady" was a New York Times Notable Book for 1998. He has also co-authored two books with Robert Jay Lifton, along with a "So Wrong For So Long" about the media and Iraq. His books have been optioned numerous times for movies (including "Joy in Mudville" by Tim Hanks). He has served as chief adviser to two award-winning documentaries and currently is co-producer of an upcoming film on Beethoven with his co-author on "Journeys With Beethoven."

Reviews

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was very interesting analysis and thought-provoking recitation of the events of WikiLeaks. It didn't really change my opinion of Julian Assange. At the time I first saw him in the news, I felt he was slightly creepy and I didn't think him as heroic and admirable as he was portrayed on media such as Democracy Now! (Much as I respect and admire Amy Goodman.)

This book, however, did make certain things clearer. I feel now that the actual leaker, Bradley Manning, is a rather sad individual. A person that never should have joined the military and seemed to have acted out in a very unfortunate way. It seems to me that the US government is more at blame for the leak than anyone else. The ease at which these documents were acquired is more of a crime than anything Bradley Manning did.

Julian Assange seems to me to be a rather sociopathic figure whose goal seems more to be acquiring more prominence for himself than anything as altruistic as transparency in government. The actual documents are secondary in the story, but also, unfortunately, not too surprising. Since VietNam our government has made secrecy a policy. Every time they are caught out they just bury things deeper. WikiLeaks has shown that technology just makes things a little easier.

This is a very good book to read if you wish to learn the sequence and circumstances of these events.

[Emely · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The White House has predictably condemned WikiLeaks rather harshly, and it will be most interesting to see how many Democrats --who claim to find Daniel Ellsberg heroic and the Pentagon Papers leak to be unambiguously justified-- follow the White House's lead in that regard." -Glenn Greenwald (re: The War Logs)

The Age of WikiLeaks: From Collateral Murder to Cablegate is an incredible re-/collection of details and insight into the rise of WikiLeaks and Julian Assange, and a great -UNBIASED- coverage of details and facts about Wikileaks' bombshell revelations about the Iraq and Afghan war logs. If one wants to understand the work and mission of Assange and his organisation this book offers an extremely valuable insight. I was blown away by the author Greg Mitchell's vast research which went into this book.

"The following morning, the Guardian carried a Q & A with Assange, from his safe house, which crashed the website. He stressed, as so few in media had, that only fully-redacted (with the help of media) cables had been posted."

Thinking it would a political book when I picked it up I was positively surprised that this one is much more of a history book. It tells the *factual* story of Wikileaks and Assange.
In addition, the author does not throw his own opinion at you. I really like that because it leaves it up to *me* to form my own opinion - which is what real journalism is supposed to be like.

"In a free society, we are supposed to know the truth. In a society where truth becomes treason, we are in big trouble" -Ron Paul

Steve Erlanger of The New York Times observes: "The United States considers itself a shining beacon of democracy and openness, but for many Europeans, Washington's fierce reaction to the flood of secret diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks displays imperial arrogance and hypocrisy, indicating a post-9/11 obsession with secrecy that contradicts American principles."

I had a hard time putting it away .... Riveting if you are into history, politics and real journalism. Greg Mitchell is one of the nation's most ethical and insightful journalists who was able to successfully cover and explore this political controversy with bravado which takes extensive knowledge. And courage. Thumbs up, 5 stars.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Greg Mitchell's dispatches on media coverage of the Iraq war have been among the most useful dispatches on that imperial nightmare. Unfortunately it seems he didn't get much time or much pay for this book, which is a good and smart read but is too short and a could have used more work. That said, it's well worth reading, especially for those wondering about the validity of what they've read and heard in the corporate press on wikileaks.

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Does what it says on the box. It has a heavy pro-WL slant, and needs some serious editing. The backstory behind earlier leaks such as Collateral Murder was good. Cablegate, however, was a jumble of facts, reports, cables and expressions of indignation which went on for pages.