README.txt: A Memoir

Description

The extraordinarily dramatic story of one of the world's most famous whistle-blowers and trans women An extraordinarily brave and moving memoir from one of the world's most famous whistle-blowers, activists and trans women. In 2010 Chelsea Manning, working as an intelligence analyst in the U.S. Army in Iraq, disclosed 720,000 classified military documents that she had smuggled out via the memory card of her digital camera. In March 2011, the United States Army sentenced Manning to thirty-five years in military prison, charging her with twenty-two counts relating to the unauthorized possession and distribution of classified military documents. The day after her conviction, Manning declared her gender identity as a woman and began to transition. In 2017, President Barack Obama commuted her sentence and she was released from prison. In her memoir, Manning recounts how her pleas for increased institutional transparency and government accountability took place alongside a fight to defend her rights as a trans woman. She reveals her challenging childhood, her struggles as an adolescent, what led her to join the military, and the fierce pride she took in her work. We also learn the details of how and why she made the decision to send classified military documents to WikiLeaks. This powerful, observant memoir will stand as one of the definitive testaments of the digital age. **CHOSEN AS A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK TO WATCH OUT FOR, A NEW STATESMAN BOOK TO READ, AND ONE OF COSMOPOLITAN'S BEST FORTHCOMING BOOKS**

Chelsea Elizabeth Manning is an American activist, whistleblower, politician and former United States Army soldier. Her Twitter account is @xychelsea.

A terrific read, full of unexpected turns and details that counter many of the assumptions made about Manning at the time ... Opens like a Jason Bourne novel * Guardian * Gripping ... It takes extraordinary qualities to do some of the things she recounts in this book ... Manning has become a new kind of American heroine * Observer * A searing personal element ... Although troubling to read, it manages to be uplifting as well * The New York Times * A compelling, taut account of what she experienced and a persuasive justification of how she behaved * Guardian * Electrifying ... an insider confessional turned inside out for the 21st century ... exhausted and precarious, darting between parking lots and coffee shops with a thumb drive and a set of headphones ... Manning conducts a pitched battle against the mass-marketization of death ... reckons with this complex relationship of sex and gender to political radicalism ... absorbing ... sublime * Washington Post * Forceful ... To those who see Manning as a hero, [her memoir] will only intensify that feeling, given all the hardships she has overcome. Those who see villainy may perhaps find their views tempered by sympathy * Sunday Times * Chelsea Manning is the biggest hero that ever lived -- Vivienne Westwood One of the bravest persons alive * Yanis Varoufakis * A heroine to millions -- Alan Moore She has inspired countless people around the world ... I regard Chelsea Manning as one of this generation's greatest heroes -- Glenn Greenwald Manning brought to light a number of human rights violations committed by the CIA and American military, many of which led to civilian deaths... but the crimes she exposed have never been investigated ... Many people view her as an American hero * Dazed * A candidly told story from activist Chelsea Manning, which turns the tell-all confessional upside down. ... Chelsea moves through her life story with poignant, personal detail ... It's shocking to read what she's witnessed and triumphed over. * The Face * Harrowing ... affecting * New Statesman * [A] brilliantly told book * The Times * A full and expansive account of Manning's life, one which is often harrowing by funny and poignant too * Dazed * Chelsea Manning, with huge courage, exposed crimes of US imperialism and at the same time went through a personal journey of liberation. She details it all in a new book, Readme.txt ... Her story is about resistantance to war - and also fighting to be free. * Socialist Worker *