edward snowden a young computer genius working for americas national security agency blew the whistle on the way this frighteningly powerful organisation uses new technology to spy on the entire planet the consequences have shaken the leaders of nations worldwide this is the inside story of snowdens deeds and the journalists who faced down pressure from the us and uk governments to break a remarkable scoopfrom the day he left his glamorous girlfriend in hawaii carrying a hard drive full of secrets to the weeks of secretspilling in hong kong and his battle for asylum snowdens story reads like a globetrotting thriller