README.txt describes in painful, affecting detail what happened as a result of the U.S. Army intelligence analyst’s decision in 2010.

We may know some facts of this story, but what we cannot know as an abstract fact — what we can only feel through Manning’s unfurling of narrative detail — is the texture of her choices.

Gripping.

At times, README.txt is vague; some sections have been blacked out, presumably on legal advice. Manning claims to have seen more than she ever disclosed, things she 'will never reveal'.

Forceful but sometimes gruelling.

Manning demonstrates her integrity in this meticulous account of a person constitutionally opposed to secrets and lies..