American gun : the true story of the AR-15 / Cameron McWhirter and Zusha Elinson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McWhirter, Cameron, author.

Elinson, Zusha, 1980- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Assault weapons--History.

Assault weapons.

AR-15 rifle--History.

AR-15 rifle.

Gun control--United States--History.

Gun control.

Firearms and crime--United States--History.

Firearms and crime.

United States.

Genre:

History.

Informational works.

Physical Description:

xiii, 473 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023.

Summary:

"The epic history of the AR-15 rifle, America's most controversial weapon"-- Provided by publisher.

In the 1950s an obsessive firearms designer named Eugene Stoner invented the AR-15 rifle in a California garage. He sought to devise a lightweight, easy-to-use weapon that could replace the M1s touted by soldiers in World War II. What he did create was a lethal handheld icon of the American century. McWhirter and Elinson track the AR-15 from inception to ubiquity. How did the same gun represent the essence of freedom to millions of Americans and the essence of evil to millions more? Shunned by gun owners at first, the rifle's popularity would take off thanks to a renegade band of small-time gun makers. By the 2000s it would become the weapon of choice for mass shooters, prompting widespread calls for proscription even as the gun industry embraced it as a financial savior. The book is a moral history of contemporary America's love affair with technology, freedom, and weaponry. -- adapted from jacket

Contents:

A note about names

Prologue: ten minutes, 1057 bullets

The boy who like explosions

Men against fire

The rifleman

Hollywood moon shot

Springfield's rifle

The space-age gun is born

The bureaucracy strikes back

Hunting big game

The spy who saved stoner's rifle

'Brave soldiers and the M16'

'Tragedy and betrayal'

'Borders on criminal negligence'

The sporter

Big guns come in

Bush ban

Three senators

The end of compromise

Bad boys

A precise request

AR-15 takes off

Here come the hedge funds

The man card

'I'm a killer I guess'

'You woudn't understand'

Molon labe

Trump slump

Burning boots

Lockdown nation

Come and take it nation

Beyond the talking points

'Are any residents safe in this country anywhere?'

Valerie's road home

Postscript: what would stoner do?

Notes

Bibliography

Acknowledgments

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: McWhirter, Cameron. American Gun : The True Story of the AR-15.

ISBN:

9780374103859

0374103852

OCLC:

1390193413