Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard UniversityAs the director of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei played a key role in the most high-stakes conflicts of our time. Contending with the Bush administration's assault on Iraq, the nuclear aspirations of North Korea, and the West's standoff with Iran, he emerged as a lone independent voice, uniquely credible in the Arab world and the West alike. As questions over Iran's nuclear capacity continue to fill the media, ElBaradei's account is both enlightening and fascinating.ElBaradei takes us inside the nuclear fray, from behind-the-scenes exchanges in Washington and Baghdad to the streets of Pyongyang and the trail of Pakistani nuclear smugglers. He decries an us-versus-them approach and insists on the necessity of relentless diplomacy. "We have no other choice," ElBaradei says. "The other option is unthinkable."

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