NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Edward Snowden, the man who risked everything to expose the US government’s system of mass surveillance, reveals for the first time the story of his life, including how he helped to build that system and what motivated him to try to bring it down. In 2013, twenty-nine-year-old Edward Snowden shocked the world when he broke with the American intelligence establishment and revealed that the United States government was secretly pursuing the means to collect every single phone call, text message, and email. The result would be an unprecedented system of mass surveillance with the ability to pry into the private lives of every person on earth. Six years later, Snowden reveals for the very first time how he helped to build this system and why he was moved to expose it. Spanning the bucolic Beltway suburbs of his childhood and the clandestine CIA and NSA postings of his adulthood, Permanent Record is the extraordinary account of a bright young man who grew up online—a man who became a spy, a whistleblower, and, in exile, the Internet’s conscience. Written with wit, grace, passion, and an unflinching candor, Permanent Record is a crucial memoir of our digital age and destined to be a classic.

Permanent Record

Edward Snowden, the man who risked everything to expose the US government’s system of mass surveillance, reveals for the first time the story of his life, including how he helped to build that system and what motivated him to try to bring it down. In 2013, twenty-nine-year-old Edward Snowden shocked the world when he broke with the American intelligence establishment and revealed that the United States government was secretly pursuing the means to collect every single phone call, text message, and email. The result would be an unprecedented system of mass surveillance with the ability to pry into the private lives of every person on earth. Six years later, Snowden reveals for the very first time how he helped to build this system and why he was moved to expose it. Spanning the bucolic Beltway suburbs of his childhood and the clandestine CIA and NSA postings of his adulthood, Permanent Record is the extraordinary account of a bright young man who grew up online – a man who became a spy, a whistleblower, and, in exile, the Internet’s conscience. Written with wit, grace, passion, and an unflinching candor, Permanent Record is a crucial memoir of our digital age and destined to be a classic.

*PLEASE NOTE: This concise summary is unofficial and is not authorized, approved, licensed, or endorsed by the original book's publisher or author. Permanent Record became Internationally Known simply because... Edward Snowden's Permanent Record is a testimony of a man for whom privacy is paramount, but who knows that exposing himself is necessary for the world to understand the importance of the information he revealed about the U.S. government. Snowden takes us through his life and decision to reveal the National Security Agency's mass surveillance of American citizens and the tools the NSA used to collect every text, e-mail, phone call, and digital action made by citizens. It is the account of a young man who grew up online and saw the internet change from a land of freedom to a tool used by a sprawling, oppressive machine. It is a memoir for the modern age, and a must-read for those who care about their own privacy. Why read NinjaReads Summaries: *High-Quality Written Summaries with 30-Day Money Back Guarantee *Professional Publishing Team with Native English Speakers & Writers *Each summary is written to ensure your personal growth and enhance your learning experience. *Key Takeaways & Analysis of each chapter with zero fluff. *Actionable item steps summarized to ensure you are able to implement the knowledge. NinjaReads summaries is made for Go-Getters who have an itch to learn and grow. Not only will you learn faster, but you'll also be more productive as you save hours of your day. As you grow smarter from each read, your family and friends may notice and give you compliments on how much you have grown. We chase after the key points and analyze every chapter. You save time by not having to read all the unnecessary fluff that some books may have and absorb only the valuable & practical info you need. That's right... you don't need super speed-reading powers, you'll absorb the info in an hour or less! DISCLAIMER: We are confident that our professional summaries will bring more readers to the full-lengthed book who otherwise would have been discouraged due to a long-read commitment. Our hope is that readers like you can use this summary to help cement the most important lessons and ultimately use it as an intro or companion to the original book, not as a replacement.

Summary of Permanent Record

At the beginning of a lonely summer, 16-year-old Vaughn Vance meets Sophie Birch, and the two forge an instant and volatile alliance at Nashville's neglected Dragon Park. But when Vaughn takes up photography, she trains her lens on Sophie, and their bond dissolves as quickly as it came into focus. Felts keenly illuminates the pitfalls of coming of age as an artist, the slippery nature of identity, and the clash of class in the New South. This Will Go Down on Your Permanent Record is a sparkling and probing debut novel from a rising literary star.

This Will Go Down on Your Permanent Record

BeeLit

Beli Labs

Download BeeLit to save reading records and track comprehension over time.

Love reading quizzes?

Getting your quiz ready

No books found

Permanent Record reading comprehension quiz — free, instant, no sign-up. Pick a book and start now!

BeeLit

Permanent Record Quiz

Choose a Book