He bore witness to the collapse of non-partisan legislation, of checks and balances, and of national integrity. He doesn’t talk about heroic first responders or the miraculous perseverance of New York City - instead, he describes shooting ranges with Middle Eastern targets, slurs yelled out car windows, and a spate of racist beatings in the middle of the street. For those of us too young to remember, Snowden’s account illustrates the tragedy’s immediate aftermath. Snowden paints a vivid picture of a nation caught in a bastardized version of its own ideals: a national media empire trafficking in xenophobia, racism and fear, and a national government wielding perverse power under the guise of patriotism. While he expresses anti-capitalist sentiments throughout his memoir, he refrains from fully denouncing capitalism, evidently restrained by the patriotism hammered into him since childhood.Įnter 9/11. Of course, exalting an inaccessible world as a model “free society” shows a certain lack of class consciousness.

Providing true anonymity, individual agency, and collective cooperation, he viewed this digital realm as the ideal democracy. While Snowden acknowledges this fact, he nevertheless insists that the internet of his youth was close to perfection. In those days (the early ‘90s), the internet had an exceptionally high barrier of entry it was accessible only to a privileged few. Hating the petty tyranny of high school, he eventually dropped out to study computers at the Anne Arundel Community College, where he quickly learned the ins and outs of computer engineering, coding, and hacking. Throughout his childhood, Snowden’s father brought home the latest in commercial computing innovations, nourishing Snowden’s infatuation with the internet indeed, that’s where his true education took place.

He starts with his lineage, which, directly traceable to the Mayflower, is deeply rooted in generations of civil service - his father worked in a tech position for the coast guard and his mother worked for the NSA. The first half of the book is a collection of carefully selected anecdotes recalling the evolution of the internet and post-9/11 society, tracing Snowden’s own positions on privacy, politics, and patriotism. Yet in many important ways, Snowden’s critique doesn’t go far enough.

When you crack open Edward Snowden’s memoir, your perception of the U.S. Snowden’s new tell-all memoir, Permanent Record, doesn’t lack in thrills, twists, and high-stakes crises, but is also a sobering reminder of what can happen when the last remaining superpower turns on its own citizens. This is the man who exposed the breathtaking scope of the National Security Agency’s (NSA’s) massive spying apparatus, and was summarily forced into hiding, where he remains to this day - the mythology writes itself. As America’s most famous “traitor,” Edward Snowden’s name evokes mystery, intrigue, and suspicion.

Snowden memoir