Permanent Record cover art

Permanent Record

A Memoir of a Reluctant Whistleblower

 Preview
Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Permanent Record

By: Edward Snowden
Narrated by: Holter Graham
Try Standard free

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.99

Buy Now for $26.99

About this listen

THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN 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.

 Activists Freedom & Security Politicians Politics & Activism Politics & Government Social Sciences Thought-Provoking Inspiring

Critic Reviews

Riveting, pacy
The world's most famous whistleblower
Fascinating
A riveting account . . . Reads like a literary thriller
Gripping
His disclosures of mass surveillance and bulk collection of personal information are as relevant now as they were in 2013
Full of surprises . . . A deeply reluctant whistleblower . . . he deserves our thanks
Well-written
A very significant figure in the history of intelligence
Thriller plot
A thoughtful and elegantly written book (Steven Poole, New Statesmen)
All stars
Most relevant
Brilliant book brilliant insight, he is what the world needed plus it was nice to be able to relate to blowing into a Nintendo cartridge to get it working back in the day, keep fighting the good fight mate

Great book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Fantastic look into the life and events of Edward Snowdens' whistleblowing fiasco. After his early life the book really picks up and intrigues you as he talks about the events that led to his exile.

Fantastic look into the life and events

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
loved the book, it had great personal insight into Edward Snowden and his true motive.

fantastic book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Enjoyed this book incredibly. Highly recommended. The details and the realism of the book was compelling.

Real Hero!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Snowden is a hero and we all owe him for the sacrifice he made in exposing the most significant threat to our privacy.

A thoroughly worthwhile listen read by an excellent reader and well written by Snowden. Himself.

A must for all

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.