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Baseless: My Search for Secrets in the Ruins of the Freedom of Information Act
Bottom of the pile
16
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
29/100Critics
4/100Scholars
Author:
Nicholson Baker
Publisher:
Penguin Press
Date:
July 21, 2020
The author of fiction and nonfiction chronicles his 'not entirely successful efforts to squeeze germs of truth from the sanitized documentary record of the U.S. government.'
What The Reviewers Say
...[an] engaging, bracing, and moving new book.
Baker’s effort to share his extensive knowledge has resulted in an awe-inspiring quest that reads like an adventure, a war story, and a scientific mystery of psychological suspense rolled into on. He uses a diary format, with daily entries from March 9 through May 18, 2019, that typically begin with brief asides about Baker’s beloved dogs or the mundane household chores he undertakes before launching, once again, into the world of biological warfare and his country’s ongoing attempts to hide its secrets. This approach proves to be an inspired choice as Baker’s formidable narrative skill and tenacity provide for a thoroughly riveting account and powerful testimony to the need for truth..
Unfortunately, [Baker] only adds to the ball of confusion that is our world today.
Baseless: My Search For Secrets in the Ruins of the Freedom of Information Act has a promising concept, which is to use the topic as a way to examine the shortcomings of America's public records law. The book does not deliver on that promise.
