The king and the giant met on the highest peak and battled each other for days, until Arthur was gravely wounded. Just as Rhitta Gawr grabbed the king by the hair and prepared to cut off his head, Arthur summoned a last measure of strength and sank his fabled sword through the eye of the giant, who toppled over dead.
Game of Thrones stuff there. Nothing like that in the Pilgrim's Progress junior version.
On the other hand, his dropping from his memoir the chapter written by his now-wife, Lindsay, was probably a good idea (although it is made available in a link as a publisher's bonus). While it was nice to know Lindsay's reaction to his fleeing, it was Ed's memoir, not hers. Did she get paid for the chapter? But more importantly, her voice is partially lost in the editing that homogenized the text somewhat. It didn't feel as separate as it should have been. It might have been Bradley rehearsing Chelsea.
None of this is fatal to his cause - ostensibly, to inspire youngsters to follow the path of rectitude and courage in the active citizen journey ahead - because it's a well-written book, but it raises questions about the editing decisions. One possibility is that he expunged the material that got him into trouble with the government in the adult edition. Maybe he hopes to recoup, with the YER, some of the $5.2 million in profits from the adult bestseller awarded to the government by a judge. We don't know. He doesn't say before or after the new edition. No doubt, the "changes" will be raised in interviews after the Young Readers Edition is released.
So what is Snowden's final message to the heroes-in-waiting -- the future class of whistleblowers and democracy-lovers? Ed writes, at the end of his hero's memoir,
If we don't reclaim our data now, future generations might not be able to do so. Then they, and their children, will be trapped, too "We can't allow ourselves to be used in this way. We can't permit our data to be used against us. We can't let the godlike surveillance we're under be used to "predict" our criminal activity.
We killed the gods once, we can kill 'em again, during the eternal recurrence cycle. But if we hurry, kids, we won't have to wait, like John Connor, for the machine, broke good, to protect us from the liquid metal thought copper of the hive mind future we (well, you, anyway - I'll be history) share.
With any luck, Ed Snowden will get pardoned in the waning, farcical hours of the Trump presidency. Maybe DJ will do it out of pure malice and spite (but we'll take it), knowing how it would play with the Demos, especially new president Joe Biden, the silly, barely elected scheiss (incredibly, Trump almost won: the margin of victory in five states was under 1.5%) who believes he has a mandate. How about that. The only mandate Joe may have is with Corn Pop (that's a metaphor, son), who may want to yank Biden's chain for four years to make up for his blatherscheissen about how he manhandled pomaded, poolside Blacks, back in the day, before the Civil Rights Act kicked in his amoral door. ("You ain't Black, if you don't vote for me." Mmm-mmm-mmm.)
Biden is on the record as a Snowden hater, so we reactionary Lefties must needs be snarkish and intolerant toward the new Lesser Evil. Personally, I give him until August before the Repugs tar and feather him and chase him out of town. Kamala is looking prettier by the hour. (Kamala means 'a lotus on Irish streams' -- at least, that's what Oliver Stone told me).
This review first appeared in my substack feed.
(Article changed on January 20, 2021 at 04:16)
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