Book in Assange's Hand Is Getting Attention

The arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has made a book of interviews with Gore Vidal an unexpected best-seller, the AP reports. Assange was carrying a copy of Gore Vidal: History of the National Security State & Vidal on America when he was arrested Thursday at the Ecuadoran embassy in London. On Friday afternoon, the 2014 publication was No. 35 on Amazon.com but has since dropped to No. 50. Gore Vidal features conversations between the author-playwright and Paul Jay, founder of The Real News Network, a nonprofit with a stated mission of "independent, verifiable, fact-based journalism."

Vidal, who died in 2012 at age 86, had a longtime aversion to US military force and surveillance. Assange hadn't left the embassy since 2012 for fear of arrest and extradition to the US for publishing thousands of classified military and diplomatic cables. (Read about an old case that may return to haunt Assange.)