"After details of American government surveillance were published in 2013, Edward Snowden, formerly a subcontracted IT analyst for the NSA, became the center of an international controversy: was he a hero, traitor, whistleblower, spy? Was his theft legitimized by the nature of the information he exposed? When is it necessary for governmental transparency to give way to subterfuge? Edward Jay Epstein [examines] these and other questions, delving into both how our secrets were taken and the man who took them"--Amazon.com.

Part One: Snowden's Arc -- Tinker -- Secret Agent -- Contractor -- Thief -- Crossing the Rubicon -- Hacktivist -- String Puller -- Raider of the Inner Sanctum -- Escape Artist -- Whistle-blower -- Enter Assange -- Fugitive -- Part Two: The Intelligence Crisis -- The Great Divide -- The Crime Scene Investigation -- Did Snowden Act Alone? -- The Question of When -- The Keys to the Kingdom are Missing -- The Unheeded Warning -- Part Three: The Game of Nations -- The Rise of the NSA -- The NSA's Back Door -- The Russians Are Coming -- The Chinese Puzzle -- A Single Point of Failure -- Part Four: Moscow Falling -- Off to Moscow -- Through the Looking Glass -- The Handler -- Part Five: Conclusions: Walking the Cat Back -- Snowden's Choices -- The Espionage Source -- The "War on Terror" After Snowden.