MargaretBolingMullin

12/8/2015 ** Wow! Just wow. If Steve Sheinkin wrote it, you should read it. Even if you've never heard of the issue or topic, even if you think you won't be interested. I'd never heard of Daniel Ellsberg, the subject of this biography; I thought his story might be rather dry. However, Sheinkin skillfully conveys the intense historical drama and spy-thriller like aspects of Ellsberg's quest to leak of the Pentagon Papers - a 7000 page top secret report which outlined the pervasive pattern of lies and corruption behind 4 presidential administrations' decisions to get into and stay involved in the Vietnam War.

Ellsberg's decision to leak these documents, despite the risk of being tried under the Espionage Act, was influenced by his belief that some governmental secrets shouldn't be kept from the people of a democracy. The epilogue highlights the continuing importance of these questions in light of the Snowdon leaks about recent governmental programs of surveillance of Americans.

Read it. Seriously.