Open Secrets: WikiLeaks, War, and American Diplomacy

by New York Times Staff, Alexander Star, Bill Keller

The controversial anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks made headlines around the world when it released hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. government documents in 2010. Allowed advance access, The New York Times sorted, searched, and analyzed these secret archives, placed them in context, and played a crucial role in breaking the WikiLeaks story.

Open Secrets is the essential collection of the Times ’s expert reporting and analysis, as well as the definitive chronicle of the documents’ release and the controversy that ensued. An introduction by Times executive editor, Bill Keller, details the paper’s cloak-and-dagger relationship with a difficult source. Extended profiles of Assange and Bradley Manning, the Army private suspected of being his source, offer keen insight into the main players. Collected news stories offer a broad and deep view into Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the messy challenges facing American power in Europe, Russia, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Also included are editorials by the Times , opinion columns by Frank Rich, Maureen Dowd, and others, and original essays on what the fracas has revealed about American diplomacy and government security. Open Secrets also contains a fascinating selection of original cables and war logs, offering an unvarnished look at diplomacy in action.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History, Reference, War

608 pages, Paperback

First published May 3, 2011

Reviews

[Mike Lisanke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Literally what the book title says it'll deliver... published news stories which may (all?) refer to wikileaked memos... most of which are flat out boring... most of which are dated as the book is over 12 years old. So, it shouldn't have been on my wikileaks reading list... it does mention many of our US Sock Pupputs Obummer Killary and Brennon (always in talks with Muslims hmm). I'm certain this will only entertain the most diehard fans of salacious tidbits. Any not what I'd say is worth executing Julian for certainly. I'm happy I stopped but maybe I missed something. Let me know in comments.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Generally boring to read but what kept me going was my curiosity about the information published in the book.

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

An astonishing collection of articles, cables, photos, and references to the Wikileaks cable dump of U.S. secrets, all hyperlinked for easy navigation in an ebook format. I wasn't able to keep up with the wiki-secrets when they came out, but time has shown the extraordinary impact they have had on foreign affairs and inter-country relations. The NYT magazine cover article for January 26, 2011 gives an abridged version of the introduction to Open Secrets but it is the referenced material that makes this such a great volume. Finally I get to see the cables that everyone talked about, without searching them out for myself. Novelists and reporters are going to be using the source materials shown here for many years, I expect.

What I especially liked is hearing what the editors and reporters at the NYTimes thought when they were landed with the opportunity to print U.S. government secrets, what they did, and how they proceeded, given the extraordinary circumstances: two wars, an unstable (possibly unhinged) source, and the inflammatory nature of the documents themselves.

Finally we have an ebook worthy of the name. Material is hyperlinked forward and backward, so checking cable sources and references is relatively easy. At least two videos (of U.S. helicopters firing on a crowd and a building in Baghdad in 2007), full and edited verison, are embedded with links. The best way to read this would be on a computer, but I used a NOOKcolor and it worked well (no video, alas). I might remind those of you interested in having this ebook stored on your computer that the software to read this is free and a quick and easy download from the bn.com site.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bill Keller really comes off as a self-serving asshole in this one.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for a college paper I did on WikiLeaks. It was extremely informative and easy to read. Very, very helpful in my research.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

An important historical document, which points to a need for a new foreign policy n the age of distributed digital networks.

[Will · Rating 2 out of 5]

Vaguely interesting at the start but after the intros and insight, most of the book contents are just reprinted news articles. 75% of the book are the wiki leaks themselves, hardly interesting.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collection of reporting from the NYT about Wikileaks. Rather interesting and a good reference.