Includes index.

It began with a tantalising, anonymous email: "I am a senior member of the intelligence community..." No name, no job title, no further details. What followed was the most spectacular intelligence breach in history: leaking highly sensitive secrets from the heart of US power... The Snowden Files is about how a 29-year-old contractor working for the top secret National Security Agency became the world's most wanted man. It is about the journalists who stumbled into the story of their lives and published against the odds...Moving between Hong Kong and Hawaii, London to New York, the NSA and GCHQ, awardwinning Guardian journalist Luke Harding spins a high-octane account of secrets and defiance, integrity and intrigue... Branded a traitor and hailed a hero, infuriating some and inspiring others, Snowden took extraordinary risks to reveal what he knew. It shocked the world and sparked global debate . This is the story they didn't want you to hear.