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We Are Bellingcat

An Intelligence Agency for the People

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We Are Bellingcat

By: Eliot Higgins
Narrated by: Eliot Higgins
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Bloomsbury presents We Are Bellingcat written and read by Eliot Higgins.

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THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
LONGLISTED FOR THE CWA ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION
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'John le Carré 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
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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 Bellingcat’s 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.©2021 Eliot Higgins (P)2021 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Elections & Political Process Espionage Freedom & Security Law Politics & Government Social Sciences True Crime Crime Thought-Provoking Inspiring
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Critic reviews

We Are Bellingcat is an account of real events yet reads like a thriller, with the truth waiting to be discovered online
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
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 Higgins’s 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
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 Carré demystified the intelligence services; Higgins has demystified intelligence gathering itself . . . Higgins is one of the internet’s good guys — a champion of truth in a post-truth world’
The blogger who tracks Syrian rockets from his sofa
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
‘We Are Bellingcat is Higgins’s gripping account of how he reinvented reporting for the internet age . . . Bellingcat’s 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’
All stars
Most relevant
This was our local book club’s book for September. It’s not something I would have chosen for myself but I was pleasantly surprised and finished listening to it in less than 2 days. I’m definitely going to read it a couple more times as I got lost in some of the detail. I’m curious to learn more which is one of the main reasons I love to read. Thank you for educating me.

Fascinating!

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Fascinating insight into the possibilities open to anyone with internet access and an interest in truth in an age of disinformation. It can be hard to follow the technicalities of Bellingcat’s work (you need to concentrate!) but overall really enjoyed it.

Fascinating

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It is often a plus to have the author narrate their own work. Not in this case. The author's awkward pacing and weird pauses in inappropriate places is
jarring.

That said, the book is a fascinating insight into some of the techniques Bellingcat use to determine the truth.

Interesting story, terrible narration

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Interesting.
Important.
Current.
Probably open source is necessary, possibly even essential.
Listen in, decide for yourself.

Interested? Maybe you have the skills required......

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Bellingcat is an 'organisation' that anyone who sees the news will come across from time to time without any explanation of exactly who they are. This book explains what the group is, and how they came to be. The author (if you're not already aware) founded Bellingcat as the natural extension of his own hobby of doing private Investigations into news stories, and finding like-minded people who were interested in discovering the truth behind confused, incomplete and unclear reports (and sometimes out-and-out propaganda).

I've been following Eliot Higgins (and others from Bellingcat) on social media for some time, so I'm well aware of their work but this was still a very engaging listen. Higgins narrates the book himself, and comes across as a very ordinary, likeable, unassuming person - just as I've found him to be elsewhere - telling the story without any fictional drama and without any overbearing self-aggrandisement, but still managing to keep the account of Bellingcat's work interesting.

If you're one of the people who have heard the name and are intrigued as to what this Bellingcat thing is, this book is worth a listen.

Who are Bellingcat?

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