Uranium: War, Energy, and the Rock That Shaped the World

Uranium is common in the earth's crust, and it is the only naturally occurring mineral able to end all life on the planet. Tom Zoellner follows it across the globe, tracing how control of the element became a form of power over other nations after World War II.

The book starts with the hopes attached to the element. Marie Curie's work raised the prospect of a miracle cure, while the Manhattan Project pointed toward a very different future, one in which civilization might end in apocalypse.

Mining is a large part of the account. In Africa and Eastern Europe, forced labor camps grew up around the mine shafts. In the United States, more than six hundred uranium miners were knowingly sent to their deaths in the name of national security.

Zoellner also follows the money and the fear. Fortunes have been made from the yellow dirt, and huge energy grids run on it. Dread of uranium helped push Americans to back a questionable war with Iraq, and it threatens to bring another conflict over Iran.

The final question is current: some now hope uranium can help head off a global warming catastrophe. This is non-fiction reporting on a mineral that can either sustain life or destroy it.