We Are Bellingcat: An Intelligence Agency for the People

(Paperback)

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_____________ THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER LONGLISTED FOR THE CWA ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION _____________ 'John le Carr demystified the intelligence services; Higgins has demystified intelligence gathering itself' - Financial Times 'Uplifting . . . Riveting . . . What will fire people through these pages, gripped, is the focused, and extraordinary investigations that Bellingcat runs . . . Each runs as if the concluding chapter of a Holmesian whodunit' - Telegraph 'We Are Bellingcat is Higgins's gripping account of how he reinvented reporting for the internet age . . . A manifesto for optimism in a dark age' - Luke Harding, Observer _____________ How did a collective of self-taught internet sleuths end up solving some of the biggest crimes of our time Bellingcat, the home-grown investigative unit, is redefining the way we think about news, politics and the digital future. Here, their founder a high-school dropout on a kitchen laptop tells the story of how they created a whole new category of information-gathering, galvanising citizen journalists across the globe to expose war crimes and pick apart disinformation, using just their computers. From the downing of Malaysia Flight 17 over the Ukraine to the sourcing of weapons in the Syrian Civil War and the identification of the Salisbury poisoners, We Are Bellingcat digs deep into some of Bellingcats most successful investigations. It explores the most cutting-edge tools for analysing data, from virtual-reality software that can build photorealistic 3D models of a crime scene, to apps that can identify exactly what time of day a photograph was taken. In our age of uncertain truths, Bellingcat is what the world needs right now an intelligence agency by the people, for the people.

Reviews

We Are Bellingcat is an account of real events yet reads like a thriller, with the truth waiting to be discovered online * New Statesman *
A fascinating book . . . The lesson of this deeply impressive book is that, despite the noise, the propaganda and the lies, the truth is everywhere. You just have to know how to look for it * Spectator *
The gripping story of how Eliot Higgins and Bellingcat used innovative investigation techniques to expose some of the gravest state crimes of our era -- Bill Browder, bestselling author of 'Red Notice'
Tells the story of the most innovative practitioners of open-source intelligence and online journalism in the world -- Anne Applebaum
It is impossible to exaggerate the urgency and the power of their work . . . Higgins and Bellingcat are a crucial and courageous corrective -- James O'Brien
It is strange that Eliot Higginss We Are Bellingcat should be such an uplifting book . . . Riveting . . . It is quite a story . . . Spare, elegant . . .What will fire people through these pages, gripped, is the focused, and extraordinary, investigations that Bellingcat runs . . . Each runs as if the concluding chapter of a Holmesian whodunit, in which the scientific sleuth explains in crystalline manner his inescapable conclusions . . . Ultimately, the book consoles, reassuring readers that in a world where everyone has an opinion and objectivity feels extinct, the tools to prove and verify have never been more accessible * Telegraph *
Bellingcat has pioneered a new field of investigation that has proven key to understanding the clandestine criminal actions of Russia and other nations both at home and abroad. They have exposed numerous war crimes, human rights violations, and much more . . . If there were a Nobel Prize in uncovering war crimes, Bellingcat would receive it. No wonder authoritarian and criminal regimes hate them so -- Toomas Hendrik Ilves, former President of Estonia
John le Carr demystified the intelligence services; Higgins has demystified intelligence gathering itself . . . Higgins is one of the internets good guys a champion of truth in a post-truth world * Financial Times *
The blogger who tracks Syrian rockets from his sofa * Daily Telegraph *
Taking on the Krelim from his couch Eliot Higgins and Bellingcat are fighting Vladimir Putin and his ilk, using little more than computers and smartphones * Foreign Policy *
We Are Bellingcat is Higginss gripping account of how he reinvented reporting for the internet age . . . Bellingcats rise reveals something new about our digitally mediated times: spying is no longer the preserve of nation states anyone with an internet connection can do it * Observer *

Author Bio

Eliot Higgins is the founder of Bellingcat, an independent international collective of researchers, investigators and citizen journalists using open-source and social media investigation to probe some of the worlds most pressing stories. A senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, Higgins also sits on the technical advisory board of the International Criminal Court in the Hague. In 2018 he was a visiting research associate at Kings College London and at the University of California Berkeley. @EliotHiggins | bellingcat.com