What is it like to design weap-ons of mass annihilation? How do the people who produce such weapons justify their work? MIT anthropology professor Hugh Gusterson spent two and a half years at the Lawrence Livermore Labs, where scientists have been creating atomic weapons since 1952, and his book Nuclear Rites addresses those questions. Gusterson began as a nuclear peace activist, then was struck by how much he personally liked a Livermore scientist he debated. Nuclear Rites works to view the researchers as complex human beings rather than as caricatured Dr. Strange-loves, and examines how they form their identities as bomb designers.

Central to Gusterson's task is a look at Livermore's ethos of secrecy. Security checks, which emphasize the scientists' membership in a rarefied community, buttress their pride in their skill, knowledge, and patriotism. But at the same time, such measures frequently push them to monitor their actions and police themselves against suspect behavior, like attending the meetings of peace activists. Formal and informal rules also prevent Livermore scientists from discussing their work with outsiders, including their own spouses. One wife never found out about her husband's project until she sat in on his interview for the book.

Gusterson goes on to point out that the nuclear tests the Livermore scientists supervise are critical rites of passage, strengthening community ties. The act of surmounting the massive technical obstacles these tests present reinforces participants' shared assumption that atomic weapons, if handled competently, are controllable. And this sense of mastery carries over to the political and military context in which the bombs are to be used. For the scientists, in other words, nuclear tests supply a "symbolic simulation" of the "system of deterrence itself," Gusterson writes. In fact, many Livermore scientists regard their bombs as such a powerful deterrent that they believe they will never be used, and thus differentiate their work from the production of conventional military technologies like napalm. Some even marched in 1960s antiwar protests or opposed Reagan-Bush environmental policies.

Yet whatever their beliefs, Livermore scientists focus less on political matters than on the satisfaction of meeting technical challenges. Designing nuclear weapons piques their scientific curiosity. They have the privilege of working with highly intelligent colleagues in what one described as "the ultimate toy shop" of state-of-the-art equipment. They avoid having to genuflect to academic or corporate bureaucracies. And they channel their passion for invention into what Gusterson calls "a source of binding energy"-something capable of holding them together even when outsiders question their mission.