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Traitor: The Whistleblower and the "American Taliban"
This is the the memoir of the Justice Department legal ethics advisor, Jesselyn Radack, who blew the whistle on government misconduct in the case of the so-called "American Taliban," John Walker Lindh--America's first terrorism prosecution after 9/11.
(from amazon.com)
(from amazon.com)
180 pages, Paperback
First published January 30, 2012
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July 13, 2012
(6/10) The sad thing about memoir is that the people with the most interesting lives are not neccesarily the best writers. Jesselyn Raddack certainly has a story worth telling, one that speaks not only to the paranoia of the national security state but also the relentless machinery of government that is almost petty in its desire to ruin the life of anyone guilty of even a minor act of rebellion.
As for that writing bit -- well, it's servicable. Raddack mostly manages to avoid making her struggle sound like a movie or some kind of Manichean struggle between good and evil. With that said, the prose is pretty dry and occasionally awkward, and a lot of this reads more like a legal deposition than a narrative. Obviously Raddack wants to present her circumstances in full to prevent any charges of distortion, but it hurts the book. And that rationale is also part of the problem. Traitor seems like less of a work in itself and more as part of the ongoing battle between Raddack and the state department. This is a battle in which she deserves full support, but once again it doesn't make for compelling reading.
Jesselyn Raddack does important work and her situation, as well as the situation of other whistleblowers like Thomas Drake and Bradley Manning (probably rotting in some dungeon as I write), deserves to be widely known. This book, however, is probably not the best method of doing so. I would reccomend the articles on her by Glenn Greenwald and other writers, which get the job done in less time. But if you really want more detail, Traitor would work too.
As for that writing bit -- well, it's servicable. Raddack mostly manages to avoid making her struggle sound like a movie or some kind of Manichean struggle between good and evil. With that said, the prose is pretty dry and occasionally awkward, and a lot of this reads more like a legal deposition than a narrative. Obviously Raddack wants to present her circumstances in full to prevent any charges of distortion, but it hurts the book. And that rationale is also part of the problem. Traitor seems like less of a work in itself and more as part of the ongoing battle between Raddack and the state department. This is a battle in which she deserves full support, but once again it doesn't make for compelling reading.
Jesselyn Raddack does important work and her situation, as well as the situation of other whistleblowers like Thomas Drake and Bradley Manning (probably rotting in some dungeon as I write), deserves to be widely known. This book, however, is probably not the best method of doing so. I would reccomend the articles on her by Glenn Greenwald and other writers, which get the job done in less time. But if you really want more detail, Traitor would work too.
Displaying 1 of 1 review