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Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possible Hardcover – July 1, 2007

by Stephen Braun (Author), Douglas Farah (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 214 ratings
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Praise for Merchant of Death

""A riveting investigation of the world's most notorious arms dealer--a page-turner that digs deep into the amazing, murky story of Viktor Bout. Farah and Braun have exposed the inner workings of one of the world's most secretive businesses--the international arms trade.""
—Peter L. Bergen, author of The Osama bin Laden I Know

""Viktor Bout is like Osama bin Laden: a major target of U.S. intelligence officials who time and again gets away. Farah and Braun have skillfully documented how this notorious arms dealer has stoked violence around the world and thwarted international sanctions. Even more appalling, they show how Bout ended up getting millions of dollars in U.S. government money to assist the war in Iraq. A truly impressive piece of investigative reporting.""
—Michael Isikoff, coauthor of Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War

""Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun are two of the toughest investigative reporters in the country. This is an important book about a hidden world of gunrunning and profiteering in some of the world's poorest countries.""
—Steve Coll, author of Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001

""In Merchant of Death, two of America's finest reporters have performed a major public service, turning over the right rocks that reveal the brutal international arms business at the dawn of the twenty-first century. In Viktor Bout, they have given us a new Lord of War, a man who knows no side but his own, and who has a knack for turning up in every war zone just in time to turn a profit. As Farah and Braun uncover and document his troubling role in the Bush Administration's Global War on Terror, his ties to Washington almost seem inevitable.""
—James Risen, author of State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration

""An extraordinary and timely piece of investigative reporting, Merchant of Death is also a vividly compelling read. The true story of Viktor Bout, a sociopathic Russian gunrunner who has supplied weapons for use in some of the most gruesome conflicts of modern times--and who can count amongst his clients both the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan and the U.S. military in Iraq--is a stomach-churning indictment of the policy failures and moral contradictions of the world's most powerful governments, including that of the United States.""
—Jon Lee Anderson, author of The Fall of Baghdad

Two respected journalists tell the incredible story of Viktor Bout, the Russian weapons supplier whose global network has changed the way modern warfare is fought. Bout’s vast enterprise of guns, planes, and money has fueled internecine slaughter in Africa and aided both militant Islamic fanatics in Afghanistan and the American military in Iraq. This book combines spy thrills with crucial insights on the shortcomings of a U.S. foreign policy that fails to confront the lucrative and lethal arms trade that erodes global security.

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  1. Print length
    320 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Trade Paper Press
  4. Publication date
    July 1, 2007
  5. Dimensions
    6.47 x 1.15 x 9.38 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    9780470048665
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0470048665
  8. See all details
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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
214 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book well-written and engaging. They find the subject matter fascinating and informative. However, some feel the narrative structure lacks cohesion.

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ReadabilityInterestNarrative structure
15 customers mention "Readability"15 positive0 negative

Customers find the book well-written and engaging. They appreciate the thorough research and say it's well-researched, but it needs an update after Bouts.

"...Bout. This is a great read, and I highly recommend the book." Read more

"...Yet despite the uncertainty of the author's claims, the book does make interesting reading for those who assume incorrectly that the US government..." Read more

"...Who really is the merchant of death? A good read if you are looking for detailed information on the subject matter with supporting..." Read more

"...Definitely worth the read if you want to know more about the illegal arms industry." Read more

12 customers mention "Interest"12 positive0 negative

Customers find the subject matter fascinating and engaging. They find the book informative and an eye-opener for common citizens on one of today's most pressing transnational issues. However, some readers feel the structure lacks cohesion.

"...I found the book interesting and engaging throughout, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to understand how wars in Africa are facilitated." Read more

"...The information itself is very interesting but I would have found it easier to read if I'd been able to gain more idea of who Bout is as a person...." Read more

"Highly informative, easy read. Lays out in detail the way international conflicts get supplied...." Read more

"...This is an eye-opener for the common citizen on one of todays most pressing transnational threats." Read more

3 customers mention "Narrative structure"0 positive3 negative

Customers find the narrative structure lacking a coherent and disjointed approach.

"...The narrative is very one sided, as the authors fail to interview sources other than Western officials...." Read more

"The underlying facts are very interesting, but the book lacks a coherent structure. Could have been a great book in the hands of a more able writer." Read more

"...There was no narrative structure, but followed a disjunctive linear one." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • David Southworth
    5.0 out of 5 stars Eye Opening
    Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2011
    Verified Purchase
    This is the story of Victor Bout, a former Soviet air force officer, possibly with ties to Soviet military intelligence. He was able to take advantage of a fortuitous time: the collapse of the Soviet Union meant a vast drawback of the Russian army from many of its far outposts. It also meant a lack of money and oversight of military equipment. That in combination with Bout's pilo skills learned in the air force, as well as a faculty for languages possibly nurtured while he worked as a translator for Soviet intelligence, led to a bonanza for Bout.

    Bout essentially stole abandoned Soviet cargo planes right off their runways, then stole or bought on the cheap old military equipment, then flew his planes to warzones to sell to the highest bidder. Bout would sell materiel to both sides of a conflict and to terrorist groups. He spent time with the Taliban, and was involved in many still cloudy operations with moneymen in the Persian Gulf states.

    Many in European and American government and law enforcement agencies began to Bout as a threat to stability in the 1990s. American intelligence and state department officials tried to interdict him, but were roundly refused by the Russian government, who became a protector of Bout. At the time of the publication of the book Bout was still free, though in 2010 he was finally detained in Thailand and deported to the United States for trial on charges of funding terrorism.

    Probably the biggest headline to come out of this book is that even though many recognized Bout as an outlaw and supporter of terrorism, it did not stop the US military in contracting logistical work through him during the early days of the Iraq war in 2003.

    This book by acclaimed investigative journalist Douglas Farah has many such anecdotes about the doings of Victor
    Bout. This is a great read, and I highly recommend the book.
    6 people found this helpful
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  • Vladimir
    4.0 out of 5 stars How Much Is True?
    Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    I found several errors, one glaring, where the authors claim that Bout's aircraft had Lead shielding in order to stop bullets. The problem with that is that Lead shielding is used to stop nuclear radiation, not bullets. Russian military aircraft were designed to operate in nuclear war conditions, so bullets would not be the reason for Lead shielding. Ordinary bullets cut through Lead like a hot knife through butter.

    Another possible error is the author's claim that aircraft insignia were made of magnetic material so it could be changed more easily by peeling off the insignia, except that most aircraft skins are made of Aluminum and are non-magnetic. Assuming Russian military transport aircraft had steel skins, no magnets could withstand the tremendous air flow across the tail section. Magnetic insignia would be blown right off the plane.

    Finally, the authors presume that all UN decrees have the force of law no matter how ridiculous or undemocratic such decrees may be.

    All of which suggests the "Merchant of Death" may contain many more serious errors or presumptions that are not so obvious. Yet despite the uncertainty of the author's claims, the book does make interesting reading for those who assume incorrectly that the US government monolith is perfectly efficient.

    The hunt to pin something on Viktor Bout was almost comedic in its screwups, with the Pentagon relying on Bout's air fleet to resupply its forces in Baghdad and Afghanistan while the State Department was trying to seize his assets to prevent him from completing his Pentagon contracts. Quite a mess, and one that was successfully covered-up by the US government until this book was published.

    The book omits the illegal capture and kidnapping of Bout from Thailand under color of law, originally precipitated by Bout's alleged violation of UN bans on arms shipments to various nations in Africa, yet the deals were perfectly legal under the laws of those governments involved. The final deal that got Bout into a US prison is completely omitted from the book, a proposed delivery to FARC that was never made - a "crime" that was never attempted, a "conspiracy" without a second participant, because the second guy worked for the US government.

    (Yes, it still requires two or more people to form a "conspiracy", but one of those two happened to be a government agent whose intent was to NOT commit a criminal act.)

    One interesting question is how a UN ban on arms shipments should affect countries that did not agree to the ban. Some countries simply reject the decrees of an un-elected gathering of representatives of various nations.

    UN bans can have the force of law only for those nations accepting UN jurisdiction and which accepted the ban. Bout appears to not have done business with any nation which agreed to the arms ban, so how could he be held to have acted "illegally"?

    The murky fog of conflicting laws (2nd Amendment vs. UN arms ban) remains despite decrees of US agencies and the UN, and one wonders how Bout could be imprisoned by the US for arms dealing when the 2nd Amendment protects the sale of arms.

    US court cases have held many times that gun sellers are not legally responsible for the criminal acts of buyers involving guns, yet Bout remains in federal prison for merely offering to transport guns to South America. Has America's judicial system completely abandoned the doctrine of Stare Decisis? Or is there more to that story? Readers of this book will have to wait for a sequel, or until Mr. Bout writes his own version.

    What motivated Viktor Bout to be so obsessed about his companies?
    Why would former Soviet military men offer air transport services for hire?
    You won't know - it doesn't cover many details on that. But another book does.

    When the Soviet Union collapsed, funding for the armed forces evaporated, soldiers went without pay, without a place to live, the value of the Ruble collapsed, and families managed to survive living in tents, total poverty.

    Army platoons hired themselves out to whoever could feed them. Within months after the collapse, the military was near starvation and sold whatever they could to buy food. Officers traded vacuum cleaners, aviation fuel, whatever they could find, for food. This is what led to former Soviet pilots taking any job they could find. The reasons motivating guys like Viktor Bout can be found in the book, "Outlaws Inc." Perhaps one would have to experience that situation in order to understand that they did whatever they had to do, to survive.

    Operation Mockingbird, originally a US government black operation, is designed to change public opinion through planted media stories, scripted movies and t.v. shows, books (including college textbooks), radio talk shows, and other media. Anyone hunted by the government receives the full Mockingbird treatment, and Viktor Bout became #1 on Washington's list of approved targets.

    Operation Mockingbird is an ongoing program, and that begs the question of how much of the Viktor Bout story is true and how much is paid government propaganda, or based on inserted scenarios created in D.C. and Langley, planted news stories, etc. What do we actually "know" for certain?
    16 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Pan Kleks
    5.0 out of 5 stars The real story of Viktor Bout,the biggest illegal arms dealer in the world.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 19, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    This book was recommended to me by a friend. This is a story of Viktor Bout,the biggest illegal arms dealer in the world.
    Bout is reported to have made substantial amounts of money shipping goods in Africa and the Middle East in the 1990s and 2000s, and the former military translator for the Soviet Union may well have fed the flames of various African civil wars by supplying vast quantities of arms during the Nineties. He has also been dubbed a “sanctions buster” because of allegations that he violated UN arms embargoes in trading with Angola, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Congo during the same decade.
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  • Dave
    2.0 out of 5 stars Pretty much waste of time.
    Reviewed in Canada on October 25, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    After reading this book it is pretty plain at least 90% of Bout's business was perfectly legal. The worlds biggest arms dealer is the US government.
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  • Michael Roet
    4.0 out of 5 stars Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possible
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 17, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possible A great book and I appreciate the efficient service by RightChoiceBooks
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  • Reviewer
    5.0 out of 5 stars The mysterious Viktor Bout....
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 17, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    This is a fantastic, albeit academic, book about Viktor Bout, the notorious international arms trafficker.
    The book also serves as a timely prologue to Bout's arrest and detainment in March 2008, an event that will likely be addressed in subsequent versions/publications of the book.
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  • ZVK
    5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant read!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 9, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    Very interesting read, would recommend for anyone in the business!
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