An edition of Secrets (2002)

Secrets

a memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon papers

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  • 4.50 ·
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Last edited by MARC Bot
November 15, 2023 | History
An edition of Secrets (2002)

Secrets

a memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon papers

  • 4.50 ·
  • 2 Ratings
  • 6 Want to read
  • 1 Currently reading
  • 3 Have read

"Daniel Ellsberg began his Vietnam-era career as the coldest of cold warriors: a U.S. Marine company commander, a Pentagon official, and a staunch supporter of America's battle against Communist expansion. But in October 1969, Ellsberg - fully expecting to spend the rest of his life in prison - set out to turn around American foreign policy by smuggling out of his office and making public a seven-thousand-page top secret study of decision making in Vietnam, eventually to be known as the Pentagon Papers.

In this penetrating political memoir, Ellsberg now tells the full story of how and why he became one of the nation's most impassioned and influential antiwar activists and the most important whistleblower of the last fifty years.".

"Secrets is a detailed insider's view of the secrets and lies that shaped three decades of American foreign policy during the Vietnam era. Ellsberg's exposure to the lying began on his very first day in the Pentagon, August 4, 1964, which was also the day of the infamous Gulf of Tonkin incident. The more Ellsberg learned about the war from top decision makers, confidential documents, and reports of secret maneuvers, the more skeptical he became about prospects for military victory in Vietnam.

Then, during a two-year volunteer tour in Vietnam as a State Department official, he saw firsthand how disastrous American military strategy was, and he became convinced that the Johnson administration's policies were hopeless. Returning to the United States in 1967, he began to see that his pessimism was widely shared inside the government, despite encouraging public statements by the president and other high officials. And yet the war continued. Richard Nixon, elected president in 1968 with promises of peace, escalated the war further.

By 1969 Ellsberg had gone beyond a commonly shared position critical of U.S. policy, and he describes here in detail how he came to risk his career and his freedom to expose the deceptions and delusions of the entire American involvement in Vietnam, from President Truman onward - for the Pentagon Papers revealed that Washington had clearly known Vietnam to be a catastrophe for decades.".

"The release of the Pentagon Papers, first to the New York Times and the Washington Post, set in motion a chain of events that included a landmark Supreme Court decision, the arrest and trial of Ellsberg and his collaborator, Anthony Russo, and the crimes of Watergate. Ultimately his actions helped end not only the Nixon presidency but the Vietnam War.

Infused with the political passion and turmoil of the Vietnam era, Secrets is at once the memoir of a daring and committed man, an insider's expose of Washington, and an exploration of conscience and patriotism in a government intoxicated by secrets."--BOOK JACKET.

Publish Date
Publisher
Viking
Language
English
Pages
498

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: Secrets
Secrets
2008, Penguin Group USA, Inc.
Electronic resource in English
Cover of: Secrets
Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers
September 30, 2003, Penguin (Non-Classics), Penguin
in English
Cover of: Secrets
Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers
October 10, 2002, Viking Adult
Hardcover in English
Cover of: Secrets
Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers
October 10, 2002, Highbridge Audio
Audio CD in English - Abridged edition
Cover of: Secrets
Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers
October 10, 2002, Highbridge Audio, Brand: Highbridge Audio
Audio cassette in English - Abridged edition
Cover of: Secrets
Secrets: a memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon papers
2002, Viking
in English

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Book Details


Published in

New York

Edition Notes

Includes bibliographical references (p. 471-475) and index.

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
959.704/3373
Library of Congress
DS558 .E44 2002, DS558.E44 2002

The Physical Object

Pagination
x, 498 p. ;
Number of pages
498

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL3557512M
Internet Archive
secretsmemoirofv02ells
ISBN 10
0670030309
LCCN
2002016874
OCLC/WorldCat
49386042
Library Thing
267987
Goodreads
1120152

Work Description

In 1971 former Cold War hard-liner Daniel Ellsberg made history by releasing the Pentagon Papers-a 7,000-page top-secret study of U.S. decision-making in Vietnam-to the New York Times and Washington Post. The document set in motion a chain of events that ended not only the Nixon presidency but the Vietnam War. In this remarkable memoir, Ellsberg describes in dramatic detail the two years he spent in Vietnam as a U.S. State Department observer, and how he came to risk his career and freedom to expose the deceptions and delusions that shaped three decades of American foreign policy. The story of one man's exploration of conscience, Secrets is also a portrait of America at a perilous crossroad.

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History

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November 15, 2023 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
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December 5, 2020 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
April 1, 2008 Created by an anonymous user Imported from Scriblio MARC record.