The World for Sale: Money, Power, and the Traders Who Barter the Earth’s Resources

Bloomberg News journalists Blas and Farchy debut with a colorful and alarming exposé of the shadowy world of global commodity trading. Willing to go “where others fear to set foot” in order to barter the essential staples of the world (grain, oil, minerals), some commodity traders are impervious to politics, patriotism, or principles, according to the authors. They describe the chief executive of “the world’s largest oil-trading company” landing in Benghazi during the Libyan civil war to do a deal with Libyan rebels, detail how a Marc Rich + Co employee pretended to be a representative of Burundi in order to buy oil at a discount, and note that traders who violated sanctions in order to do business with South Africa in the 1980s helped to sustain and prolong apartheid. Blas and Farchy also detail how the U.S. Justice Department under attorney general Eric Holder aggressively prosecuted and curtailed the activities of rogue traders. Hair-raising anecdotes about “swashbuckling” traders “walking on the edge of the knife” keep the pages turning, but Blas and Farchy sometimes get caught between glamorizing their subjects and condemning their actions. Still, this an engrossing look at an obscure yet consequential corner of the financial world. (Mar.)