Inside Out

I'm adding a new blog link in the sidebar: Barry Eisler's The Heart of the Matter. I picked up a book at the library, Inside Out, Eisler's latest, which is well-written and intelligent. It takes the fact of the CIA's destruction of torture tapes and creates a story behind it - a very plausible story.

From Eisler's blog:

Barry Eisler spent three years in a covert position with the CIA's Directorate of Operations, then worked as a technology lawyer and startup executive in Silicon Valley and Japan, earning his black belt at the Kodokan International Judo Center along the way. Eisler's bestselling thrillers have won the Barry Award and the Gumshoe Award for Best Thriller of the Year, have been included in numerous "Best Of" lists, and have been translated into nearly twenty languages. Eisler lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and, when he's not writing novels, blogs about torture, civil liberties, and the rule of law.

Some of his blogging:

Progressives think government is too big and therefore want to reduce secrecy and prevent the president from imprisoning and assassinating American citizens without due process; Tea Partiers think government is too big and therefore want to prevent universal health care. Progressives think the national deficit and debt are out of control and therefore want to shrink the military; Tea Partiers think the national deficit and debt are out of control and therefore want to eliminate social security.

[...]

[A] reasonable rule of thumb for testing the seriousness of anyone’s claim to the role of underdog in the fight against vast, powerful forces, is this: what actual damage has the claimant sustained? Ask this question of Glenn Greenwald, or Michael Hastings, or Carol Rosenberg, or Jeremy Scahill, or Marcy Wheeler, or of any other real journalist, and you’ll learn of doors closed and financial opportunities lost. Ask it of Glenn Beck, and you’ll learn of multi-million dollar television contracts and book advances. Ah, the sacrifices this man has made in exposing the powerful forces who secretly control America.

[...]

Inside Out is dedicated to the bloggers—the independent sleuths who are after the truth, not a pat on the head from the White House; who have a passion for change, not "a vested interest in keeping things pretty much the way they are;" who serve the people, not the powerful. Much of the information and insight upon which Inside Out is based was developed by bloggers and other independents; it's fitting, therefore, that the Inside Out book tour thank them for what they do. So I'm proud to announce that my Bay Area, Los Angeles, DC, and New York City events are not just book signings, but also fundraisers for AlterNet, Firedoglake, GRITtv, and Truthout, three [sic] superb sources of independent political news and opinion. – Barry Eisler

  Barry Eisler

I'm sorry I didn't come across this book earlier, or at least start reading it a couple of weeks ago when I brought it home, because in that delay, I've missed being able to alert you to the book tour dates and locations (the last was in San Francisco on October 20). My apologies to those who might have been able to attend and talk to the author.

Inside Out is set around true facts and includes real names in real politics, as well as some fictional names and unnamed, but recognizable people in politics, to make a very believable and edifying story. Pick up a copy and read it.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.