The Gun
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Narrated by:
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Michael Prichard
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By:
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C. J. Chivers
About this listen
It is the world's most widely recognized weapon, the most profuse tool for killing ever made. More than 50 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 70 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.
©2010 C.J. Chivers (P)2010 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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Why We Lost
- A General's Inside Account of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars
- By: Daniel Bolger
- Narrated by: Steve Coulter
- Length: 20 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Over a 35-year career, Daniel Bolger rose through the army infantry to become a three-star general, commanding in both theaters of the U.S. campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. He participated in meetings with top-level military and civilian players, where strategy was made and managed. At the same time, he regularly carried a rifle alongside rank-and-file soldiers in combat actions - unusual for a general.
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An apolitical account of our recent wars.
- By DMgraphicGlass on 04-07-15
By: Daniel Bolger
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The Unknowns
- The Untold Story of America’s Unknown Soldier and WWI’s Most Decorated Heroes Who Brought Him Home
- By: Patrick K. O'Donnell
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Brilliantly researched and vividly told, The Unknowns is a timeless tale of heeding the calls of duty and brotherhood and humanizes the most consequential event of the 20th century, which still casts a shadow a century later. Celebrated military historian and best-selling author Patrick O'Donnell illuminates the saga behind the creation of The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and recreates the moving ceremony during which it was consecrated.
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The Unknowns
- By Logophile on 05-09-19
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The Harlem Hellfighters
- When Pride Met Courage
- By: Walter Dean Myers, Bill Miles
- Narrated by: Corey Allen
- Length: 2 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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New York Times best-selling author Walter Dean Myers and renowned filmmaker Bill Miles deftly tell the true story of the unsung American heroes of the 369th Infantry Regiment of World War I in The Harlem Hellfighters: When Pride Met Courage. At a time of widespread bigotry and racism, the African American soldiers of the 369th Infantry Regiment put their lives on the line in the name of democracy.
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Great Accessible History
- By Christopher on 02-21-21
By: Walter Dean Myers, and others
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This Kind of War
- The Classic Korean War History
- By: T. R. Fehrenbach
- Narrated by: Kevin Foley
- Length: 24 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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This Kind of War is a monumental study of the conflict that began in June 1950. Successive generations of U.S. military officers have considered this book an indispensable part of their education. T. R. Fehrenbach's narrative brings to life the harrowing and bloody battles that were fought up and down the Korean Peninsula.
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Great narrative, frustrating redundancy
- By Ted on 08-16-10
By: T. R. Fehrenbach
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Vietnam
- An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975
- By: Max Hastings
- Narrated by: Max Hastings, Peter Noble
- Length: 33 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Vietnam became the Western world’s most divisive modern conflict, precipitating a battlefield humiliation for France in 1954, then a vastly greater one for the US in 1975. Max Hastings has spent the past three years interviewing scores of participants on both sides, as well as researching a multitude of American and Vietnamese documents and memoirs, to create an epic narrative of an epic struggle. Here are the vivid realities of strife amid jungle and paddies that killed two million people.
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A more nuanced view than Ken Burns' companion book
- By Vu on 10-21-18
By: Max Hastings
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The Face of Battle
- By: John Keegan
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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In this major and wholly original contribution to military history, John Keegan reverses the usual convention of writing about war in terms of generals and nations in conflict, which tends to leave the common soldier as cipher. Instead, he focuses on what a set battle is like for the man in the thick of it.
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Amazing! But probably better in print.
- By D. Martin on 04-20-13
By: John Keegan
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Snow & Steel
- The Battle of the Bulge 1944-45
- By: Peter Caddick-Adams
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer, Tim Reynolds
- Length: 31 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Between December 16, 1944 and January 15, 1945, American forces found themselves entrenched in the heavily forested Ardennes region of Belgium, France, and Luxembourg defending against an advancing German army amid freezing temperatures, deep snow, and dense fog. Operation Herbstnebel - Autumn Mist - was a massive German counter-offensive that stunned the Allies in its scope and intensity.
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fascinating and thorough, painful narration
- By richard on 01-05-15
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Vietnam
- The Australian War
- By: Paul Ham
- Narrated by: Peter Byrne
- Length: 31 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Drawing on hundreds of accounts by soldiers, politicians, aid workers, entertainers and the Vietnamese people, Paul Ham reconstructs for the first time the full history of our longest military campaign. From the commitment to engage, through the fight over conscription and the rise of the anti - war movement, to the tactics and horror of the battlefi eld, Ham exhumes the truth about this politicians' war - which sealed the fate of 50,000 Australian servicemen and women.
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Fascinating detailed account
- By Alan T Alcock on 04-21-09
By: Paul Ham
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The Great Gamble
- The Soviet War in Afghanistan
- By: Gregory Feifer
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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During the last years of the Cold War, the Soviet Union sent some of its most elite troops to unfamiliar lands in Central Asia to fight a vaguely defined enemy, which eventually defeated their superior number with unconventional tactics. Although the Soviet leadership initially saw the invasion as a victory, many Russian soldiers came to view the war as a demoralizing and devastating defeat, the consequences of which had a substantial impact on the Soviet Union and its collapse.
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Correction
- By Alyssa B. Goss on 11-22-09
By: Gregory Feifer
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My Fellow Soldiers
- General John Pershing and the Americans Who Helped Win the Great War
- By: Andrew Carroll
- Narrated by: Andrew Carroll
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Andrew Carroll's intimate portrait of General Pershing, who led all of the American troops in Europe during World War I, is a revelation. Given a military force that on the eve of its entry into the war was downright primitive compared to the European combatants, the general surmounted enormous obstacles to build an army and ultimately command millions of US soldiers. But Pershing himself - often perceived as a harsh, humorless, and wooden leader - concealed inner agony from those around him.
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Don’t pass this up
- By PineappleSmoothy on 03-29-18
By: Andrew Carroll
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The Generals
- Patton, MacArthur, Marshall, and the Winning of World War II
- By: Winston Groom
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 16 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Celebrated historian Winston Groom tells the intertwined and uniquely American tales of George Patton, Douglas MacArthur, and George Marshall - from the World War I battle that shaped them to their greatest achievement: leading the allies to victory in World War II.
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Nothing new here
- By Mike From Mesa on 01-13-16
By: Winston Groom
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What listeners say about The Gun
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Shaun
- 09-25-11
Guns, Technology, and Intrigue
I have bought about ten books from Audibile, all dealing with history, and this may be my favorite.
On the surface, The Gun appears to be a book about the AK-47. But it's really the story of the evolution of military weapons and strategies, advances in technology from the 19th to the 20th century, and the history of this time period...through the sights of various arms designers and governments that shaped the world stage.
I like Chivers thesis that the AK-47 may have been more important in the long-run than the Soviets developing nuclear weapons.
The narration by Prichard is spot on.
If you are a fan of reading about history or current events, or...say, the film "Lord of War"...buy this audiobook right away.
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3 people found this helpful
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- James R.
- 12-18-22
Great history
While this is a book about the AK line of rifles, it’s really a book about the history of war and of the Soviet Union. If you like guns, you’ll like this book. If you like history, you’ll like this book. I’d you like warfare, you’ll like this book.
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Overall
- Lindsay
- 01-28-11
Should Be Three Books
The title of this book should be pluralized. It is really a textbook on the development of automatic weapons in general rather than a history of the AK 47/74. Only about 1/3 of the book is specifically about the AK 47. Very interesting but strays a little far afield at times. The narrator, Michael Prichard takes some getting used to, but is ok. That said, The Gun is interesting and worth the time investment.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Scott
- 08-07-18
Very informative and entertaining.
I loved this book. It held my attention so well that it was like a printed book that you can't put down. I was always trying to find enough time to finish the next chapter.
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- A. Gray
- 04-28-16
Cold War Documentary
This is a far more fascinating story than what you may imagine from the premise or dust jack blurb alone. Enough tecnical information to inform a novice or satisfy the afficianado. Great anecdotes and stories for any history buff.
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Overall
- Edward
- 10-26-10
A compelling book about much more than guns!
This book is a compelling review of how man's technology for killing each other has shaped history over the last 140 years, and how entrenched thinking has been far more deadly than the weapons of war. As a hardcore firearms enthusiast, I hoped the book would be a history of the most influential gun of all time, the AK-47 family of shoulder-fired military arms. What I found was much, much more, including a commentary on how the development and deployment of the weapons of war reflect the best and worst of human nature and our institutions of government. Has there ever been anything so deadly as short-term thinking, greed, and manipulative self-interest? Not according to this book, which weaves history, biography, political commentary, and philosophy into a single retrospective on political history over the last 140 years. Always thought-provoking and even-handed, the author neither glorifies nor villifies the guns in question. Rather, he examines the development, use and deployment of guns as the tangible extension of political and economic influences that shape the course of history.
This book was certainly not what I expected. It was much, much more. I was unable to put it down. Having come of age in the Viet Nam era, I was horrified to learn of how the badly-flawed M-16 was developed, marketed, foisted upon the US military by Robert McNamara and his chronies, even though it was wholy unsuited to the work at hand. It was chilling to read how many lives were lost because our troops had been equipped with guns that would jam and fail with terrifying predictability. I was outraged to read of the political cover-up that blamed the problems with the guns on the troops in the field, whose lives depended on them.
While the legend of the AK 47 is shown to be at least as much PR as history, it nonetheless showed that the smug, self-congratulatory attitude of superiority we cultivate in the West, is not so well-deserved. A great read; highly recommended!
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14 people found this helpful
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- David Howell
- 10-15-18
Especially apt for today!
As the Army feilds a new weapon (Service Pistol) and as it is having challenges and successes, are we repeating history?
The US Government owes a lot to our Vietnam Veterans and especially their families. Secondly, they owe a lot to their citizens for their criminal failures. May we never repeat this failing!
The author has done a wonderful job - period!
Should be required reading.
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- Peter
- 12-17-10
Splendid work.
Good lord what a book. Interesting way to approach history, shows how the objects we make have such an effect on our culture and lives. Marvelous.
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- Michael
- 03-29-11
The Gun
Other reviewers have summerized the book well. Although I have some military experience with the Soviet Union and the present countries of Russia, the Stans, etc., the book gave me better insight into the culture of the USSR and the cultural traits which carry forward to today. My only grump is with Mr. Prichards attempt at a Russian accent during his readings. He sounds like a Scottish low-lander when he reads from the quotes.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Robin
- 07-02-19
A fascinating primer on the AK
This book provides unique insight into historical context surrounding the world's most prolific firearm, and an indispensable overview of the introduction of repeating arms to modernizing warfare.
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