Verax: A Graphic History of Electronic Surveillance

author: Pratap Chatterjee
name: Wayne
average rating: 3.85
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2019/10/19
date added: 2019/10/19
shelves: graphic-novels, non-fiction
review:
'Verax: A Graphic History of Electronic Surveillance' by Pratap Chatterjee with illustrations by Khalil Bendib is a non-fiction graphic novel that talks about recent whistleblowing of government surveillance.

Verax was one of Edward Snowden's code names so it's an apt name for this graphic novel. The book mainly has to do with the things he revealed. Discussions of unwarranted surveillance as well as the inaccuracy of U.S. drone strikes are discussed. Interviews with key people are illustrated.

It's part of the same story, but I found the first half more interesting. Deep packet inspection as well as tracking what people do with Stingrays and data mining was a lot more interesting. The drone stuff is also good, but when it moved to that, it felt like the story I was more interested in got derailed. I realize that's how the story developed, so it's just my preference.

The art is a caricature style which gives most figures kind of a garish look. It wasn't my favorite, but it was easy to distinguish among all the individuals and to recognize the more famous ones.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt& Company, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.


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