Most Dangerous

Most Dangerous is the award-winning nonfiction account of an ordinary man who wielded the most dangerous weapon: the truth.

In 1964, Daniel Ellsburg was a U.S. government analyst, helping to plan a war in Vietnam. It was the height of the Cold War, and the government would do anything to stop the spread of communism with or without the consent of the American people.

As the fighting in Vietnam escalated, Ellsburg turned against the war. He had access a top-secret government report known as the Pentagon Papers, and he knew it could blow the lid off of years of government lies. But did he have the right to expose decades of presidential secrets? And what would happen to him if he did it?

A lively book that interrogates the meanings of patriotism, freedom, and integrity, the 2015 National Book Award finalist Most Dangerous further establishes Steve Sheinkin as a leader in children's nonfiction.

This thoroughly-researched and documented book can be worked into multiple aspects of the common core curriculum.

2016 YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award winner
A 2015 National Book Award finalist
A 2015 Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Blue Ribbon book
A 2015 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature finalist
Selected for the 2016 Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People List

About the Author

Steve Sheinkin is the award-winning author of fast-paced, cinematic histories for young readers. The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights , was a finalist for the National Book Award and received the 2014 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Nonfiction. Bomb: The Race to Build-and Steal-the World's Most Dangerous Weapon was a Newbery Honor Book, a National Book Award Finalist, and winner of the Sibert Award and YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults.

Steve lives in Saratoga Springs, New York, with his wife and two children.