Classified Woman: A Memoir is a stirring book that takes us through the injustice Edmonds has endured starting during the Bush Administration. In her job as a language specialist, she finds out the FBI has been covering up information related to the September 11th attacks. She figures out the FBI has been penetrated by a Turkish translator named Melek Can Dickerson and her husband, who have engaged in illegal transactions that involve shielding potential targets from intelligence operations. She realizes any investigation of Dickerson would “shine a light on major cover-ups initiated by the State Department ” and expose crimes committed by “high-placed US officials.” She feels uneasy but knows she cannot turn back. And so she decides to pursue appropriate channels to let the proper people know all this but is forced to choose between having a career and pursuing accountability.

The only problem I have with Stephen Martin Kohn’s new book, The Whistleblower’s Handbook, is that it hadn’t been published when I was trying to decide two years ago whether or not to take the risk of speaking out against the health insurance industry.