A message from Daniel Ellsberg’s family:
Dear friends and colleagues of Daniel Ellsberg,
We’re thrilled to announce that tomorrow, Tuesday, March 3rd, Bloomsbury Publishing is releasing Truth and Consequence: Reflections on Catastrophe, Civil Resistance, and Hope, a book of Daniel’s previously unpublished writing. This book is co-edited by me (his longtime assistant) and his younger son Michael.
The core of the book consists of selections from over 60 boxes of his handwritten writings, now housed at UMass Amherst. I curated and transcribed his writing from the hundreds of notebooks that emerged in the process of preparing his papers for his archive. These notebook writings span a 50-year period, starting with 1971, the year he released the Pentagon Papers, and ending in 2021, just two years before he died.
From the publisher: “Truth and Consequence reflects (Ellsberg’s) broad lifelong preoccupations with the problem of evil, the massacre of innocents, the threat of nuclear war, the dangers of unquestioned obedience, and how to cultivate empathy for those whom we have been taught to see as enemies.”
The book also contains previously unpublished autobiographical essays about Daniel’s fraught childhood: being raised from a young age to be a concert pianist, his upbringing as a Christian Scientist, and the shocking accident at 15 that changed his life and influenced his later decision to release the Pentagon Papers.
We are pleased to send this book out into the world, knowing that its message of “resistance and hope” is so needed at this time. We would be grateful for your help in spreading the word.
Online purchase options are here, or check your local bookstore.
Warmly,
Jan Thomas &
Daniel Ellsberg’s family
