Digital Dissidents: Sowing the seeds of Egypt’s revolt

David Wolman (a contributing editor at Wired) retraces the forces behind the Egyptian revolution, revealing the grassroots organizing that helped make it possible, and showing how a small band of digital activists risked their lives and helped bring down the government of Egypt. Wolman, who began reporting on digital activism in Egypt back in 2008, tells the story of Ahmed Maher, a.k.a. Ghosty, and his fellow activists in a group called April 6 Youth. Step by strategic step, Wolman delineates how a simple Facebook group evolved into a virtual operations center, galvanizing and organizing young people to risk their lives to take on an autocratic regime.

David Wolman is a contributing editor at Wired (for whom he first wrote about Egyptian Techie dissidents in 2008) and has written for Newsweek, Currency News, Outside, and Science & Spirit, among others. His first book, A Left-Hand Turn Around the World, was published in 2005 by Da Capo Press. His more recent book, Righting the Mother Tongue: From Olde English to Email, was published by HarperCollins in 2008. A recipient of a 2010 Oregon Arts Commission fellowship, Wolman just completed his third book, The End of Money, due out in late 2011.