The Atomic Bazaar: Dispatches from the Underground World of Nuclear Trafficking

In this revelatory work, the celebrated journalist William Langewiesche investigates the burgeoning global threat of nuclear weapons production. This is the story of the inexorable drift of nuclear technology from the hands of the rich into the hands of the poor. As more unstable and undeveloped nations find ways of acquiring the ultimate arms, the stakes of state-sponsored nuclear activity have soared to new heights. The Atomic Bazaar examines in dramatic detail the chances of such weapons being manufactured and deployed by terrorists. Langewiesche also tells the harrowing story of Abdul Qadeer Khan, the scientist at the forefront of nuclear development and trade in the Middle East, who masterminded the theft and sale of centrifuge designs that helped to build Pakistan's nuclear arsenal and who single-handedly peddled nuclear plans to North Korea, Iran, and other countries potentially hostile to Western interests. From Hiroshima to the present day, Langewiesche describes a reality of urgent consequence to us all. This searing, provocative, and timely report is a triumph of investigative journalism and a masterful exposure of the most critical political problem the world now faces.