|
Ak-47: the Story of a Gun | 
 enlarge | Author: Michael Hodges
Publisher: MacAdam / Cage
Category: Book
List Price: $24.00
Buy New: $11.99
You Save: $12.01 (50%)
New (27) Used (12) from $9.18
Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 308017
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 210
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6 x 0.9
ISBN: 1596922869
Dewey Decimal Number: 623.4425
EAN: 9781596922860
ASIN: 1596922869
Publication Date: April 11, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New, no marks of any kind PAPERBACK EDITION
| |
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
In the sixty years since General Kalashnikov created the AK's distinctive silhouette, the gun has been at the centre of conflicts across the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. The weapon that made him a 'Hero of the Soviet Union' has also appeared on t-shirts and vodka bottles, featured in videos and song lyrics and been re-fashioned in crystal - a gift from Putin to George W. Bush. Power, politics and passion combine in the story of a weapon that has shaped the modern world. Using testimonies of people who have experienced the gun at first-hand - including a Sudanese child soldier, a Vietcong veteran, and Yorkshire student - Michael Hodges provides a compelling account of how the AK47 became an icon that ranks alongside Coca-Cola as one of the most recognizable brands in the world.
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Stay away! August 21, 2008
K. Young (Washinton DC, USA)
This book makes the author and the publisher look like they don't know anything in the world. It's just like that other that came out, Mr. Gatling and his terrible marvel. Their just spine less books by leftist authors about how firearms are the source of all the world's problems and we are in a huge predicament just because Gatling and Kalashnikov had their inventions and now they are a "threat" to "world peace". All of it is hog wash. Everything in here is about how UN people are suffering from this gun and how rebels can now take over whatever with it. So far from the truth. The inventions and productions in firearms design and operation that even if Kalashnikov had NEVER been born, there would have been something like the AK47 or AKM developed in Post War Russia. I mean seriously, the cartridge was there, the intermediate 7.62x39mm had been looking for a good rifle to use it in since the SKS. The need for a selective fire intermediate rifle accourate out to 300-500 yards was already in place. The Russians already had captured various models of the German STG44 so they even had something to start from. Thirdly, automatic rifle development had already been going on for a long time with the Fedorev, the Tokarov, the Simov, the PPSH, the SKS. And finally the fact that Kalashnikov made it so simple doesn't mean anything. The Russian Army has ALWAYS used simple main battle firearms. I mean how much more simple and robust can you get than the PPSH? the T33? the century old Maxim design? the Mosin Nagant m1891? It doesn't matter what other design or anything that would have filled the AK's place it would be relatively the same as the AK is because of these simple requirements. And it would have been just as easily distributed as the 80 million AKs now today. Buy this book if you want to feel good about the completely useless UN and other anti Second Amendment organizations but if you were looking for a reference on the AKM series of battle rifles then look elsewhere. The Collector's Only has a good book.
K- 47 August 14, 2008
Youel G. Hilsman (Spartanburg, SC USA)
I preferred the book "The Gun That Changed the World" by Miklail Kalashnikov and Elena Jolly on the history of the gun and bio on Kalishnakov himself. This book is more the story of the proliferation of the use of the gun since WW II: Korea, Viet Nam, revolutions, terrorists etc. I was more interested in the how Kalishnikov perfected the gun and why it was so superior to other countries auto rifles. I got bored with Hodges version of history.
A must pass for the American gun enthusiast July 12, 2008
Tyler Durden (Indiana, USA)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
I've never bothered to review anything before but I found this book so bad that I decided I would take the time to warn others. While the beginning of the book is quite interesting in regards to the creation of the AK-47, the rest of the book devolves into overly detailed accounts of improbable stories that treat the AK as though it had a will of it's own. The author veers wildly from an almost drooling admiration of the weapon to condemning its creation as the match that burned down the world. Oversimplification abounds in this book... and while I agree with the author's criticism of US foreign policy over the last several decades, I take great insult over his depiction of the average American gun owner as a fat, beer swilling redneck who should not be allowed to own an assault rifle. The one thing people on either side of the gun ownership fence should be able to agree upon is that neither of the words 'hunting' or 'sporting' are found in the 2nd amendment to the US Constitution... but that's another topic for another time.
Between the over use of the word 'ubiquitous' (which is quite the unintentional pun now that I think about it),the author's confusing writing regarding 'semi-auto' and 'full auto' firing, unnecessarily detailed geography explanations and fictionalized accounts of marginalized events, this book is a must pass for those looking for more of an objective history of the weapon.
 Not enough information. July 4, 2008
Jerry T. Estruth (Tucson, AZ)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The book was good as far as it went. It should have contained pictures of all the different models since 1947. It should have pictures of the 8 pieces that make the gun so efficient, effective and simple. I had to download information off the net to figure things out. I got kind of tired of the different stories.
This is one of those books which recounts the history of a small part of the world, and attempts to put this part of everything April 7, 2008
David W. Nicholas (Montrose, CA USA)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
This is one of those books which recounts the history of a small part of the world, and attempts to put this part of everything in context of everything else. This sort of history can work very well, and it can also lead to an exaggerated view of the significance of the item in question. While this book is generally good, the author sometimes makes the mistake of thinking that the AK-47 is the most important weapon in the world, and unstoppable.
The author begins with a fascinating chapter detailing the invention of the weapon at the end of the Second World War. There are a few pages of interview with the inventor himself, Mikhail Kalashnikov, then the author moves right on to recounting a few places where the gun has been used over the intervening sixty years.
While the author presents an interesting story, if you take this as the only book you read on warfare in the postwar world you'll learn that the AK-47 (pretty much by itself) defeated the U.S. in Viet Nam, has torn Africa to pieces, is defeating the U.S. in Iraq, and has turned America's inner cities into a nightmarish war zone. While some of this may be partially true, none of it is exactly correct, and some of it is just wide of the mark. We haven't been defeated in Iraq, yet, for one thing.
I found parts of this book fascinating, and other parts only OK. I would recommend it as light reading for someone with a military bent: others might find it a bit unreliable.
|
|
|
Navy Advancement Study Guide
Top Selling Navy Enlisted Books | |
