Sellout ─ How Washington Gave Away America's Technological Soul, and One Man's Fight to Bring It Home

American technological prowess used to be unrivaled. But because of globalization, and with the blessing of the U.S. government, once proprietary technologies and materials are now exploited around the world. Nowhere is this more dangerous than in China's monopoly of rare earth elements-materials that are essential for our gadgets and weapons systems.

Jim Kennedy is a retired securities trader who bought a bankrupt mining operation. The mine was rich in rare earth elements, but he soon discovered that China owned the entire global supply and manufacturing chain. Worse, no one in the federal government cared. Dismayed by this discovery, Jim made a plan to restore America's rare earth industry. His plan also allowed technology companies to manufacture rare earth weapons components in the United States again and develop safe, clean nuclear energy. For years, Jim lobbied Congress, the Pentagon, the White House Office of Science and Technology, and traveled the globe to gain support. Exhausted, down hundreds of thousands of dollars, and with his wife at her wits' end, in the spring of 2016, Jim sat on the edge of victory, held his breath and bet it all that his government would finally do the right thing.
Like Beth Macy's Factory Man, this is the story of one man's efforts to stem the dehumanizing tide of globalization and Washington's reckless inaction. Jim's is a fight we need to join.