The Gun: The AK-47 and the Evolution of War

''...C. J. Chivers's extraordinary new book tellas an alternative history of the world as seen through the terrible Kalashnikov AK-47 firearm.

He traces them back to their origins in the early experiments of Gatling and Maxim, and examines the first appearance of the muchine-gun - a weapon that first created the ''asymmetric'' colonial massacres enjoyed by the British in Africa but which led to the nightmarish stalemate of the First World War.

The quest for even greater firepower and mobility culminated in the AK-47 at the beginning of the Cold War; a weapon so remarkable that. over sixty years after its invention and having broken free of all state control, it has become central to civil wars all over the world.

Drawing on a huge amount of fascinating and original research, THE GUN is the story of modern violence; its inventors; its users and its victims. It examinies the weapon's impact from Eastern Europe to Vietnam to Afghanistan and Iraq...''

Author: C. J. Chivers

Publisher: Allen Lane (2010)

ISBN: 978-0713-99837-5

Description: 482 pages, Hardback, 24 Χ 16 cm.

Book condition FINE.

Dust jacket condition: VERY GOOD.

Availability: IN STOCK & READY TO SHIP!

Shipping weight: 910 gr.