Wild Man: The Life and Times of Daniel EllsbergOn September 4, 1971, the office of Lewis Fielding, a psychiatrist practicing in Los Angeles, was broken into. It looked like a run of the mill drug raid. A month later, a homeless man was charged with burglary and the case was considered closed. On June 17, 1972, five men were charged with breaking and entering at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. With these two burglaries, one seemingly innocuous while the other was more serious because of the venue, the scandal known as Watergate was born. As the tale of Richard Nixon and his Plumbers began to unfold, it was discovered that one of Lewis Fielding's patients was Daniel Ellsberg, the man who released the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times . Ellsberg was high on Nixon's list of enemies and he vowed to destroy him at all costs. In Wild Man , Tom Wells explores the life of Daniel Ellsberg to discover what makes an individual enact the most severe breach of government security ever to occur in the United States. As Wells follows Ellsberg from his early days as a piano prodigy to his years of great promise at Harvard, we see the development of a volatile, narcissistic loner with a voracious sexual appetite, a highly developed intelligence and, most importantly, the overwhelming need to take centre stage in the pageant known as America. In Wild Man , Tom Wells creates an unforgettable picture of Daniel Ellsberg, an American Everyman for the seventies who embodied the promise and paranoia of that uncertain time. This is a thrilling piece of biography that will stand as one of the great American portraits. |
What people are saying - Write a review
Wild man: the life and times of Daniel Ellsberg
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictDaniel Ellsberg gained notoriety in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers, a massive 7000-page secret history of American failings in Vietnam, to reporter Neil Sheehan of the New York Times. Wells ... Read full review
Contents
Prologue Breakin | 1 |
Loner | 33 |
Outsider | 53 |
Liberated | 81 |
Soldier and Theorist | 107 |
Supergenius | 133 |
Rejection | 169 |
Damaged Goods | 195 |
Were All War Criminals | 365 |
Battle Mode | 413 |
Boomerang | 459 |
On Stage | 505 |
Outcast | 557 |
Interviews | 605 |
Ahhreviations | 607 |
Notes | 609 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
anonymous source Anthony Russo asked Bagdikian Barker berg Boudin called Carol Cummings Carol Ellsherg Charles Nesson Colson conversation copy Cranhrook Cummings interview Dan's Daniel Ellsherg defense Ehrlichman Ells Ellsherg interview Ellsherg recalls Ellsherg says Ellsherg told father FBI document feeling felt Fielding Fielding's Garhus Gelh going Haldeman Hall interview Harry Rowen Harvard Howard Zinn hreak-in Hunt items in WSPF Jerry Goodman John McNaughton John Vann Jones July June Kaysen kind Kissinger knew Kolkowicz Komer Krogh Lansdale later looked Marshall Mary McNamara McNaughton memo mother Neil Sheehan Nesson never Nixon nuclear Oliphant Pentagon Papers person prior two items RAND recounts remembers Robert Ellsherg Rowen Russo interview Sheehan notes Shuhert sort South Vietnam stuff talk tell thing Thomas Schelling thought trial Vann Viet Cong Vietnam wanted Washington Watergate White House WHSF wrote WSPF Yarmolinsky Young Zinn
References to this book
Bibliographic information
| Title | Wild Man: The Life and Times of Daniel Ellsberg |
| Author | Tom Wells |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan, 2001 |
| ISBN | 0312177194, 9780312177195 |
| Length | 692 pages |
| Subjects | › Biography & Autobiography / Historical Literary Criticism / General Political Science / General Political Science / History & Theory |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |