Denver Nicks - Private. Bradley Manning, WikiLeaks, and the Biggest Exposure of Official Secrets in American History [2012][A]

Book Description
Publication Date: June 1, 2012
Bradley Manning perpetrated the biggest breach of military security in American history. This intelligence analyst leaked an astounding amount of classified information to WikiLeaks: classified combat videos and hundreds of thousands of documents from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and from embassies around the globe. Almost all of WikiLeaks's headline-making releases of information have come from one source only: Bradley Manning. The leaks affected governments the world over--the Arab uprisings were spurred, in part, by Manning's revelations. They propelled WikiLeaks to a level of international prominence it never had before. The world would never be the same. Bradley Manning’s story is one of global significance, and yet he remains an enigma. Now, for the first time, the full truth will be told about a man who, at the age of only twenty-two, changed the world. Nicks's book paints a nuanced portrait of a man haunted by demons and driven by hope, impulsive and cocky yet idealistic enough to follow his conscience. Relying on numerous conversations with those who know Manning best, Nicks gives the full story of a bright, gay kid from middle America who signs on to serve his country and finds himself serving a cause he finds far more sinister, and why he betrayed his oath and fellow troops--and his own future--in order to fulfill what he saw as a higher purpose. Denver Nicks has written for The Daily Beast, The Nation, AlterNet, and other publications. He lives in New York City.

Reviews
“In telling the story of how the intelligence analyst Bradley Manning came into contact with the self-promoting anti-secrecy radical Julian Assange under the pressure cooker of the Iraq war, Denver Nicks has written a page-turner that reads like a cyberthriller. It’s simultaneously a coming-of-age story, a coming-out story, an X-ray of American culture in the Homeland Security era, a well-researched history of espionage, an exposé of the routinized cruelties of the 21st-century US military, and a meditation on the human costs of the cult of secrecy.” —Ned Sublette, author of The World that Made New Orleans

“WikiLeaks accomplice Brad Manning was a gay geek in the military at a time when ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ defined the war on all kinds of freedoms, not just sexual ones. Denver Nicks has given us a suspenseful, sensitively drawn account of righteous rage, vigilante justice, and the young man who risked his future to make the truth known.” —James Gavin, author of Deep in a Dream: The Long Night of Chet Baker

“Brad Manning’s ordinary existence becomes extraordinary through the fine writing of Nicks. The conversations between Manning, his confidants, and others are expertly woven together in a way that propels this story along like a thrilling, suspense-filled novel.” —Randy L. Schmidt, author of Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter

About the Author
Denver Nicks is a writer based in New York City. Originally from Oklahoma, he has developed a reputation for intrepid reporting in challenging contexts. Nicks has written about street art in Poland, a failed coup in the Philippines, post-coup Honduras, and the hidden working-class underbelly of Wall Street in the midst of the financial meltdown. A Fulbright Scholar, he holds a Master of Science from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. His work has appeared in The Daily Beast, AlterNet, The Nation, and other publications.