The Gun, C. J. Chivers
The Gun, C. J. Chivers
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The Gun

Author: C. J. Chivers

Narrator: Michael Prichard

Unabridged: 18 hr 50 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 10/12/2010


Synopsis

It is the world's most widely recognized weapon, the most profuse tool for killing ever made. More than fifty national armies carry the automatic Kalashnikov, as do an array of police, intelligence, and security agencies all over the world.

In this tour de force, prizewinning New York Times reporter C. J. Chivers traces the invention of the assault rifle, following the miniaturization of rapid-fire arms from the American Civil War, through World War I and Vietnam, to present-day Afghanistan, when Kalashnikovs and their knockoffs number as many as 100 million, one for every seventy persons on earth. It is the weapon of state repression, as well as revolution, civil war, genocide, drug wars, and religious wars; and it is the arms of terrorists, guerrillas, boy soldiers, and thugs.

It was the weapon used to crush the uprising in Hungary in 1956. American Marines discovered in Vietnam that the weapon in the hands of the enemy was superior to their M16s.

Fidel Castro amassed them. Yasir Arafat procured them for the P.L.O. A Kalashnikov was used to assassinate Anwar Sadat. As Osama bin Laden told the world that "the winds of faith and change have blown," a Kalashnikov was by his side. Pulled from a hole, Saddam Hussein had two Kalashnikovs.

It is the world's most widely recognized weapon—cheap, easy to conceal, durable, deadly. But where did it come from? And what does it mean? Chivers, using a host of exclusive sources and declassified documents in the east and west, as well as interviews with and the personal accounts of insurgents, terrorists, child soldiers, and conventional grunts, reconstructs through the Kalashnikov the evolution of modern war. Along the way, he documents the experience and folly of war and challenges both the enduring Soviet propaganda surrounding the AK-47 and many of its myths.

About C. J. Chivers

C. J. Chivers is a senior writer for the New York Times and its former Moscow bureau chief. He was an infantry officer in the U.S. Marines from 1988 to 1994, serving in the Gulf War. He is the recipient of numerous prizes, including a shared Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 2009 for coverage in Afghanistan and citations from the Overseas Press Club. He is currently on leave from the Times.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Supratim on July 15, 2018

I was pretty intrigued when I had come across this book – a book about a gun, even if it happens to be one of the most recognized and probably most feared guns in the world. I found that the author had served in the US Marines and won a shared Pulitzer for covering the Afghan war. Hmm! Probably the......more

Goodreads review by Eric_W on February 09, 2011

The AK-47 holds almost mythological status in the world. Terrorists, revolutionaries, and insurrectionists all brandish this Russian-made weapon in defiance of those in power. Chivers calls it “a ready equalizer against morally or materially superior foes.” The U.S. decided to be more sophisticated......more

Goodreads review by Lili on August 19, 2021

-"Ооо, каква интересна книга! Чакай малко - ти си момиче. Как така ти е интересно"?! -"Не виждам как едното пречи на другото". Да оставим дълбоко вкоренените полови стереотипи настрана. "АК-47. Оръжието на XX век" представлява стегнато и все пак обширно изложение на развитието на автоматичното огне......more

Goodreads review by Donna on September 19, 2019

I received this book as a gift from a family member that knew I loved Chivers's more recent book, The Fighters. I wanted to read this one not because of the topic, but because of the writer. Chivers has an engaging writing style that's approachable and understandable, and his sources are thorough an......more

Goodreads review by Vinh-Thang on August 29, 2017

A history of death and destruction, but beautifully written, even poetic at times......more