Private: Bradley Manning, WikiLeaks, and the Biggest Exposure of Official Secrets in American History

by Denver Nicks

Published by Chicago Review Press, June 2012

Bradley Manning perpetrated the biggest breach of military security in American history. While serving as an Army intelligence analyst, he leaked an astounding amount of classified information to WikiLeaks: classified combat videos, plus hundreds of thousands of documents from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and from embassies around the globe. Nearly all of WikiLeaks’ headline-making releases of information have come from a single source: Bradley Manning.

The leaks affected governments the world over–the Arab Spring may have been sparked, in part, by Manning’s revelations. They propelled WikiLeaks to a level of international prominence it never had before and forever changed the delicate dance between secrecy and transparency.

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’ 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 and extensive chat logs published here for the first time, Nicks gives the full story of a bright, gay young man from middle America who signs on to serve his country but finds himself serving a cause he finds far more sinister. Manning’s is the morally complex tale of a soldier who took matters into his own hands in order to fulfill what he saw as a higher purpose.