Organized By Eastwind Books of Berkeley
Eastwind Books of Berkeley (37.871740, -122.269010)
Join Eastwind for book talk with Pratap Chatterjee and Khalil, authors of Verax: The True History of Whistleblowers, Mass Surveillance and Drone Warfare: A Graphic Novel. Verax: From a prize-winning journalist and the co-author of the best-selling Zahra’s Paradise, a sweeping graphic history of electronic surveillance from 9/11 to the latest drone strike. 9/11 not only marked the worst domestic terror attack in U.S. history, but also unleashed electronic spying by the government on a massive worldwide scale. In a wholly original and engaging telling, Verax (“truth-teller” and one of Edward Snowden’s code names) recounts the full story of American electronic surveillance post 9/11, in brilliant comics form. We follow Pratap Chatterjee, journalist sleuth, as he dives deep into the world of electronic surveillance and introduces its cast of characters: developers, companies, users, government agencies, whistleblowers, journalists, and, in a leading role, the devices themselves. By condensing a crucial event of the 21st century and a broad, complex history into a compact, engaging, and vivid work, Verax is a significant contribution that is certain to last. Pratap Chatterjee is the author of Halliburton's Army: How a Well-Connected Texas Oil Company Revolutionized the Way America Makes War and Iraq, Inc. The executive director of CorpWatch, he has written for publications including The New Republic, The Financial Times, and The Guardian. He has also won awards from the Overseas Club of America and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Khalil (Khalil Bendib) is the coauthor of the New York Times bestseller Zahra's Paradise, which was published in sixteen languages and nominated for two Eisner Awards. His political cartoons are distributed to 1,700 publications nationwide.