''The Gun'' is a nonfiction book written by journalist C. J. Chivers about the

AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the Avtomat Kalashnikova (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is an assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms designer Mikhail Kala ...

rifle and its

variants Variant may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Variant'' (magazine), a former British cultural magazine * Variant cover, an issue of comic books with varying cover art * ''Variant'' (novel), a novel by Robison Wells * " The Variant", 2021 epis ...

, and the impact they have had on the world. It covers the origins of the design, its invention and distribution, and the consequences of the pattern's spread around the world.

Synopsis

A prologue relates two events in 1949 in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

marking the beginning of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

: the first Soviet nuclear test and innovation in the development of the

automatic rifle An automatic rifle is a type of Self-loading rifle, autoloading rifle that is capable of fully automatic firearm, automatic fire. Automatic rifles are generally selective fire, select-fire weapons capable of firing in Semi-automatic firearm, semi ...

; the former made total war

unwinnable A no-win situation or lose–lose situation is an outcome of a negotiation, conflict or challenging circumstance in which all parties are worse off. It is an alternative to a win–win or outcome in which one party wins. Arbitration or media ...

and the latter made smaller

proxy war In political science, a proxy war is an armed conflict where at least one of the belligerents is directed or supported by an external third-party power. In the term ''proxy war'', a belligerent with external support is the ''proxy''; both bel ...

s the principal activity of the Cold War, and automatic rifles would prove the most lethal weapons of the Cold War.

Origins

Roughly the first third of the book is devoted to the history of the development of

automatic firearm An automatic firearm or fully automatic firearm (to avoid confusion with semi-automatic firearms) is a self-loading firearm that continuously Chamber (firearms), chambers and fires Cartridge (firearms), rounds when the trigger (firearms), trigger ...

s, including the biographies of

Hiram Maxim Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim (5 February 1840 – 24 November 1916) was an American-born British inventor best known as the creator of the first automatic machine gun, the Maxim gun. Maxim held patents on numerous mechanical devices such as hai ...

Richard Gatling Richard Jordan Gatling (September 12, 1818 – February 26, 1903) was an American inventor. He is best known for having invented the Gatling gun, which is considered to be the first successful machine gun. Life Gatling was born in Hertford Co ...

Paul Mauser Peter Paul von Mauser (born Peter Paul Mauser) (27 June 1838 – 29 May 1914) was a German weapon designer, manufacturer, industrialist and politician. Early life Mauser was born in Oberndorf am Neckar, in what was then the Kingdom of Württembe ...

, John T. Thompson, their eponymous automatic weapons, and their impact on warfare.

Invention and distribution

Chivers deconstructs the Soviet origin mythology of the

Kalashnikov rifle Kalashnikov rifles (), also known as the AK platform, AK rifles, or simply the AK, are a family of assault rifles based on Mikhail Kalashnikov's original design. They are officially known in Russian as ''avtomat Kalashnikova'' (), and informally ...

. Chivers draws in part from his interview of

Mikhail Kalashnikov Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov (10November 191923December 2013) was a Soviet and Russian lieutenant general, inventor, Military engineering, military engineer, writer, and small arms designer. He is most famous for developing the AK-47 assau ...

Aftermath

Roughly the final third of the book covers the contest between the AK-47 and the M16 in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

, and the spread of the adoption of the AK-47 by criminal, non-military,

non-state actor A non-state actor (NSA) is an individual or organization that has significant political influence but is not allied to any particular country or state. The interests, structure, and influence of NSAs vary widely. For example, among NSAs are non-pr ...

Reviews

Reviews were generally favorable. Reviewers contrasted the broad scope of the book (automatic rifles) with its nominal scope (the Kalashnikov rifles), and noted the coverage of both technical aspects and social impacts and that the narrative is a human story, involving inventors, generals, and casualties. According to reviewers, Chivers' experiences as Marine, journalist, and weapons expert informed the work. The most common criticism was that some topics were considered diversions by reviewers who took the central topic to be the development of the Kalashnikov pattern or the contest between the AK-47 and the United States' M16 in the

References

External links

''The Gun''
official publisher's web page at

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

*
At the Internet Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gun Books about military history Simon & Schuster books