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Author Baker, Nicholson, author.

Title Baseless : my search for secrets in the ruins of the Freedom of Information Act / Nicholson Baker.

Publication Info. New York : Penguin Press, 2020.
©2020

Copies

Location Call No. Status
 Cheshire Public Library - Adult Department Lower Level  358.388 BAKER    Check Shelf
 Mansfield, Main Library - Adult Nonfiction  358.388 BAKER    Check Shelf
 New Britain, Main Library - Non Fiction  358 BAK    Check Shelf
 Newington, Lucy Robbins Welles Library - Adult Department  323.4483 BAKER    Check Shelf
 Portland Public Library - Adult Department  358.38 BAK    Check Shelf
 Southington Library - Adult  358.388 BAK    Check Shelf
 West Hartford, Noah Webster Library - Non Fiction  358.388 BAKER    Check Shelf
 Windsor, Main Library - Adult Department  358.388 BA    Check Shelf
Description xiv, 450 pages : illustration, map ; 25 cm
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages [381]-434) and index.
Summary "Ten years into researching a book about the possibility that the United States had used biological weapons in the Korean War, Nicholson Baker was frustrated and disheartened. In the course of his research, he had become deeply disillusioned with the process of FOIA requests. He has been forced to wait years in some cases, while other requests have been answered only with documents rendered inscrutable, or even illegible, by copious redactions. Rather than wait forever, with his head full of secrets about government atrocities committed by his own country, Baker sets out to keep a personal journal of his obstructed research instead. He begins documenting his correspondence with the government administrators who are charged with responding to, and thus stymying, his requests. The result is one of the most original and daring works of nonfiction in recent memory, a singular and mesmerizing narrative into the history of some of the darkest and most shameful secrets of the CIA and US government--all willfully concealed to some degree despite the existence of the so-called Freedom of Information Act. In his preternaturally lucid and unassuming style, Baker unearths stories of CIA programs involving weaponized insects and the deliberate spread of Lyme disease; dangerous military experiments carried out on unsuspecting American citizens; and devastating chemical munitions designed to inflict terrible harm on innocent civilians in far-flung countries. At the same time, he shares beautiful anecdotes from his daily life in Maine feeding his dogs and watching the morning light gather on the horizon. The result is an astonishing and utterly disarming story about waiting, bureaucracy, the horrors of war, and, above all, the deadly secrets the United States government keeps from its citizens"-- Provided by publisher.
Subject Biological weapons -- United States -- History.
Biological warfare -- Research -- United States.
Intelligence service -- United States -- History.
United States. Freedom of Information Act.
Official secrets -- United States.
Government information -- United States.
Cold War.
POLITICAL SCIENCE / Intelligence & Espionage.
HISTORY / United States / 20th Century.
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Literary Figures.
Freedom of Information Act (United States) (OCoLC)fst01359375
Biological warfare -- Research. (OCoLC)fst00832363
Biological weapons. (OCoLC)fst00832367
Government information. (OCoLC)fst00945364
Intelligence service. (OCoLC)fst00975848
Official secrets. (OCoLC)fst01044261
United States. (OCoLC)fst01204155
Cold War (1945-1989) (OCoLC)fst01754978
Genre/Form History. (OCoLC)fst01411628
Added Title My search for secrets in the ruins of the Freedom of Information Act
Other Form: Online version: Baker, Nicholson, Baseless New York : Penguin Press, 2020. 9780735215771 (DLC) 2019043385
ISBN 9780735215757 (hardcover)
0735215758 (hardcover)
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