The Gun
by C.J. Chivers
The Gun is a triumph of reporting and a superb work of military and cultural history written by Pulitzer prize-winning New York Times reporter C.J. Chivers. Chivers traces the invention of the semi-automatic weapon from the American Civil War, through WWI, Vietnam, to the present day when Kalashnikovs and their knockoffs are the most abundant firearms on earth – there are 100 million of them – one for every seventy persons on earth. The book tells the story of the most deadly weapon in history. It has killed more people than the atomic bomb. It is the weapon of revolution, civil war, genocide, drug wars, religious wars; it is the arms of terrorists, guerrillas, boy soldiers, and thugs.
Chivers is a former Marine Corps infantry officer who now contributes to the Foreign and Investigative desks of The New York Times, writing on conflict, politics, crime and human rights from Afghanistan, Iraq, Russia, Georgia, Chechnya and elsewhere on a wide range of assignments. He was part of the Times's team that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 2009, for coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan. He also frequently posts for the Times's "At War" blog. He says this book is the summation of 25 years of his experience. The spark for writing this book began in 2001, when he was sent to Afghanistan as a foreign correspondent. He saw AK-47s everywhere and wondered how they got there.
The mass production of the Kalashnikov assault rifle in the Soviet planned economy enabled automatic firepower to eventually reach uncountable hands. How the proliferation happened was an accident that resulted from deliberate decisions, says Chivers. The Soviet Union wanted to stop the West in conventional wars, but they lost custody of their armories as stockpiles were looted and rifles turned up all around the satellite countries that didn't last. In the latter half of the Cold War, the rifles migrated from military use to become the principal arms of guerrillas, thugs, bandits, child soldiers, terrorists and a host of other users. "No one would have predicted, as the world worried over nuclear war, that those rifles, with their cartridges of reduced size, would become the most lethal instrument of the Cold War," writes Chivers. "Unlike the nuclear arsenals . . . an automatic rifle was a weapon that could actually be used – That marked the arrival of the Kalashnikov Era – small wars and proxies became the means through which the Cold war was fought."
"The Gun is for those who wonder how we fight today and why we fight that way. C. J. Chivers has given us a seminal work that will be respected by future generations trying to understand us." – James Bradley, author of Flags of Our Fathers, Fly Boys, and The Imperial Cruise
" . . . eye-opening . . . it's hard to resist a narrative that ends with a world awash with a weapon that has killed more soldiers and civilians than all the high-tech planes, missiles, bombs, WMDs and America's sophisticated rifles combined. An entertaining work that combines technical details, biographies, political maneuvering and insightful military history." – Kirkus Reviews
" . . . superior history . . . " – Booklist
If you could not attend the reading, but would like a signed copy of The Gun, you may purchase it below.
C.J. Chivers
The Gun (signed copy)
$28.00