American gun : the true story of the AR-15 /
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...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York :
Farrar, Straus and Giroux,
[2023].
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| Edition: | First edition. |
| Subjects: |
| Summary: | 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. |
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| Physical Description: | xiii, 473 pages, [8] pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780374103859 0374103852 |