Assange Agonistes (Kindle Single) [Kindle Edition]

Heather Brooke (Author)

Book Description

“A tight, engaging inside account of WikiLeaks' history-making year”
—Kevin Poulsen, award-winning journalist at Wired.com

There is no shortage of material about Julian Assange, WikiLeaks and the major sets of leaked documents (including more than a quarter of a million diplomatic cables). Heather Brooke, an award winning British investigative reporter, suddenly found herself a participant in the story she was investigating about the digital revolution took a turn that had far-reaching implications.

With access to Julian Assange and other members of WikiLeaks, she paints an unforgettable portrait of the man and the organization. Heather Brooke also found herself "at the table" when key participants The Guardian, The New York Times and other publications negotiated with Julian Assange and one another.

This is the ultimate insider's timely account, written in a manner which will enthrall both the casual and the sophisticated reader.

Heather Brooke worked as a political and crime reporter in the US before moving to Britain where she is now a freelance journalist and Freedom of Information campaigner. Her investigation into the expense accounts of Members of Parliament led to the biggest clear-out of politicians that country had seen in decades. She writes for all of the main UK national papers and has published three books in the UK. Heather Brooke has won numerous awards including the Judges’ Prize at the 2010 British Press Awards.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Assange Agonistes is thrilling, ironic, and loaded with unexpected twists. It's the story of how Julian Assange, the front man of WikiLeaks, worked with three newspapers (The New York Times, The Guardian, and Der Spiegel) to publish simultaneous articles based on the biggest government information leaks in history. One of those leaks was the release of some 250,000 U.S. Embassy cables. The story involves hackers, paranoia, the world's most powerful newspapers, clandestine operations, an internationally wanted man, and almost everyone telling each other lies. Author/investigative journalist Heather Brooke details how soon after she met Assange, her personal and professional boundaries with him began to blur. She draws an intimate portrait of Assange's twin natures. To her, the platinum-haired idealist is a magnetic personality and a charismatic crusader on a mission to expose suppressed and censored injustice. Yet he's also a megalomaniac, a hypocrite of the first order, and a threat to the integrity of his own mission. Brooke's writing is fast-paced, wonderfully descriptive, and remarkably revealing (both about WikiLeaks and the trade of investigative journalism). Readers who admire or detest WikiLeaks will find this 75-page piece a fascinating read, but no one will be more enraged about it than Julian Assange himself. --Paul Diamond

Product Details

• File Size: 216 KB
• Print Length: 75 pages
• Publisher: RosettaBooks (August 10, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005GHPMBO
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #349,782 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #32 in Kindle Store > Kindle Singles > Profiles
  • #55 in Kindle Store > Kindle Singles > The World Stage

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars page-turning insider account August 12, 2011

By Danny O'Brien

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

The odd thing about WikiLeaks was, at some level, how predictable it all was. Cypherpunks had been forecasting data-havens and darknet markets of exfiltrated data for decades. It took something like WikiLeaks to implement its elements, and somebody like Julian Assange to translate that from background noise in the computer underground to front page news.

This is a brilliant insider's view of Assange: his hackerish charisma, his commitment to a cause he ends up believing few of his associates share, his specific genius and his flaws. But most of all it's a book about lies and the truth: the lies people tell themselves, and the lies they decide it is best for others to believe. I don't want to spoil the plot, but anyone who thinks this is a character assassination of Assange should read the whole thing through. He is here, warts and all, but then so are the other players. I'm not sure it's Assange who comes out worst.

I met her briefly right in the middle of all of this: she seemed to be one of the few journalists asking the right long-term questions about how WikiLeaks would affect the long-term health of politics, media in the West. I had little impression of how heavily involved she was. As Brooke says, she "fell into the story" very early on. But it's still a book that still manages to convey the differing positions of all of its characters, including its author. And they are all here, close-up or in cameo: the Guardian's staff, the Chaos Computer Club, Iceland's parliament, Daniel Schmidt. Only the Americans -- the New York Times and the US government, lie off-stage, on speaker-phones or press-mediated threats.

Assange Agonistes left me more sympathetic to everyone, including Assange, and suspicious of even the best-intentioned.... Power corrupts, even if it's the temporary power of seizing (or controlling) the front page. Read more ›

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars If you've ever had even a fleeting interest in WikiLeaks or its founder... August 10, 2011

By Jon

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

this is a must read!
The accomplished investigative journalist Heather Brooke was caught in the middle of the biggest information leak in history - and she takes you there as it happened. It reads like a thriller, as newspaper editors, journalists, and hackers battle over how to break the world-shaking stories...all subject to the whims of the self-destructive, egomaniacal Julian Assange. If you ever had even a fleeting interest in WikiLeaks or its founder, this is a must-read.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Cracking read August 15, 2011

By Tom Watson

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

If you've been following the WikiLeaks story since the beginning, Heather Brooke's personal account of her role - and inside view of the controversial anti-secrecy organization - adds valuable detail and fascinating color to the story.

And if you don't know much about Julian Assange beyond the headlines, Brooke's tale (an extended excerpt from her upcoming print book on revolutions and social media) will introduce you to a complex character and his small but active and often-angry band of hard-core followers. I'm fascinated by the role of whistleblowers and digital sharing in the world formerly dominated secrets, but I've been opposed to WikiLeaks methods since its inherent laissez faire sloppiness over the Iraqi War records and nonchalance for the consequences of publishing the State Department cables. And I do not believe that the constant drama around Assange (which he encourages) does the cause of open government much good.

On the other hand, WikiLeaks is undeniably important - at least as a harbinger of change if not as an ongoing organization dominated by one iconoclast - and Brooke's short account helps to fill out aspects of the "instant history" of the last year or so. (I didn't recall, for example, that Daniel Ellsberg had himself "leaked" WikiLeaks data to the New York Times or some of the details of the Guardian's work on the story). You'll be glad you downloaded this single...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating! September 5, 2011

By C. Foster

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Loved the story. I really appreciate Heather's admission that she got into her one story early on. It's got to be an awkward place for a journalist to be - covering the whistleblower while protecting the concept of free speech. I found it fascinating that Assange ultimately turned into to the person/entity that he despised. It was also an interesting study on the legalities of Wikileaks, the entity. All around interesting story.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and easy read August 18, 2011

By Taylor Webb

Format:Kindle Edition

Any mainstream media article can provide a brief background to Wikileaks front-man Julian Assange, but few sources can describe his body odor, hygiene habits, and questionable personality and do so in a relevant way. Heather Brooke's account of Assange and the rise of Wikileaks contains numerous vignettes that allow for a more complete image of Assange aside from simply a whistle-blower. She accomplishes this by constructing a chronological account of Wikileaks from outside sources, confidential sources, and her own interactions with Assange. Additionally, Brooke describes divisions within Wikileaks absent from many other accounts. The resulting narrative flows with remarkable clarity and occasional suspense. Aptly titled, but only for those that understand the word "Agonistes" which I predict is rather few. I would recommend this to someone wanting slightly more than a cursory knowledge of Wikileaks, but not wanting to spend more than 3-4 hours obtaining it.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars There's a movie script in here... August 16, 2011

By Lora Friedenthal

Format:Kindle Edition

This page-turner reads like a political thriller. Chances are you watched the news enough to hear about WikiLeaks and grasp that there was outrage, but this insider look explains the Whos and Whys of a revolution that wasn't. WikiLeaks was a grand scheme poised to make nations and businesses tremble in the face of truth. And then...it all but vanished, crowded out by the media machine of the US government that, according to Brooke, Assange woefully misjudged and underestimated.

Rather than a work of character assassination, this story reveals Assange to be a real and flawed human, with passion, drive, and bizarre failings. Brooke captures the charisma that made the WikiLeaks project possible, as well as the hubris that brought it all down.

A quick, informative, and compelling read.

More About the Author

Heather Brooke worked as a political and crime reporter in the US before moving to Britain where she is now a freelance journalist and Freedom of Information campaigner. Her investigation into the expense accounts of Members of Parliament led to the biggest clear-out of politicians that country had seen in decades and the first forced resignation of the Speaker of the House in 300 years. She writes for all of the main UK national papers and has published three books.

Heather Brooke has won numerous awards including the Judges' Prize at the 2010 British Press Awards, the FOI Award from Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), and a Freedom of Expression Award from Index on Censorship. She is a visiting professor at London's prestigious Department of Journalism at City University.