First published 2014
Sharyl Attkisson sits in her home office as her computer springs to life without warning. Strange sounds emanate from the machine before it shuts down on its own. Someone is watching her, using advanced spyware typically reserved for intelligence agencies. The veteran CBS journalist has spent over thirty years exposing scandals across Republican and Democratic administrations, but her investigations into Obama Administration controversies have triggered unprecedented retaliation. Anonymous forces launch opposition research campaigns against her. Her personal computers suffer intrusions. Her phone lines face probable tapping. Network executives receive calls pressuring them to kill her stories. Attkisson finds herself caught between her duty to report the truth and increasingly sophisticated efforts to silence her. As she documents each act of intimidation and harassment, she realizes her personal battle reflects a larger crisis. Investigative journalism itself faces extinction as powerful figures in government and business deploy new weapons against accountability. Her fight becomes a stand for press freedom in an era when transparency faces its greatest threat.
Genres: american, political-science, politics, non-fiction, 21st-century, journalism
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigative-reporter, whistleblower
Setting: Washington
Period: Obama Administration
407 pages · Hardcover · Harper