Julian Assange: The Unauthorised Autobiography hit bookshelves in the U.K. on Thursday, despite the WikiLeaks founder's efforts to stop it. In a statement also released Thursday, Assange lambasts Canongate, the book's publisher, for printing what he describes as "an unauthorised 70,000 word first draft of what was going to be my autobiography" without his permission. He added that it's "entirely uncorrected or fact-checked by me." Assange also disputes reports that he cancelled the project and wrote, "I did not pull the plug on the deal, nor was I unwilling to compromise." The book's U.S. publisher Knopf did cancel their plans to publish it, so buying it stateside requires a little bit of maneuvering.

But it's pretty simple. Searching Amazon.com and eBay.com won't return any results, but the book is available on the British versions of the site. Here's a link to listing on Amazon.co.uk and corresponding search on eBay.co.uk. With shipping it works out to be about $30.00 on either site. The best price we've seen so far is a cool £10 at the British bookstore WHSmith, but they don't ship abroad. 

If you're not interested in buying the book, there's plenty of summaries online. The most memorable quote we've seen so far comes from the chapter in which Assange denies rape charges made by two Swedish women last year. "I wasn't a reliable boyfriend, or even a very courteous sleeping partner," the book quotes Assange saying. "I may be a chauvinist pig of some sort, but I am no rapist."

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Adam Clark Estes