Machine Gun: The Story of the Men and the Weapon That Changed the Face of War

From Publishers Weekly
Smith makes machine guns sound like the first weapon of mass destruction in this detailed history. At least statistically, no implement of warfare can compare to the world's 600 million small arms and light weapons-chiefly among them mechanized guns-which, in various arenas of combat, cause 300,000 deaths annually. Smith illustrates how machine guns were propelled into existence by the same dark impulse that brought forth the first atomic weapon: mankind's desire to eliminate enemies quickly and in great numbers. And there are familiar justifications: Richard Gatling, creator of the eponymous rapid-firing gun, sounds like a Cold War physicist at Los Alamos when he defends his design as a life-saving device. "The inventor of such a machine would prove a greater benefactor of his race, than he who should endow a thousand hospitals," he wrote in 1852. Smith documents how machine guns were criticized, at first, because "there was no glory" in mowing down enemies; and how colonial military strategists let glory be damned when they unleashed their Maxims upon "the dense masses" of Africa. He also argues that machine guns had their most devastating effect during World War I, where they made trench warfare, and the accompanying slaughter, practically inevitable. Indeed, this micro-history contains many important facts and observations. Unfortunately, however, it never quite finds the time to step back and expand its field of vision, a tactic that would help win over an audience beyond that of die-hard gun enthusiasts. Frustrating loops in the chronology and sloppy writing may also irritate general readers. Most perplexingly, the book ends right when the story becomes most relevant, barely discussing the post-World War II development and effects of these now ubiquitous weapons. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Book Description
The machine gun is a uniquely American invention that, more than any other single invention, revolutionized the way in which war was waged. Machine Gun tells the story of the people responsible for the development of the weapon itself - beginning with Samuel Colt's creation of the first mass-produced, rapid-firing revolver; to Dr. Richard Gatling and his Gatling Gun; and Hiram Maxim, whose Maxim Gun was the first truly automatic weapon.

In this engrossing history, Smith traces the uses of the rapid-fire gun and its slow integration into the weaponry of military forces around the world. First used primarily to 'pacify' native populations, the machine gun was not fully integrated into military tactics until after the unprecedented casualties of World War I and the resultant social upheaval that utterly changed the very nature of tactical warfare. Machine Gun is an enthralling account of the people who invented and promoted the weapon, how it affected the very nature of warfare, and of the society out of which it arose - and which it in turn transformed inexorably.



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In this history, Smith traces the uses of the rapid-fire gun and its slow integration into the weaponry of military forces around the world. First used primarily to "pacify" native populations, the machine gun was not fully integrated into military tactics until after the unprecedented casualties of World War I and the resultant social upheaval that utterly changed the very nature of tactical warfare. Machine Gun is an enthralling account of the people who invented and promoted the weapon, how it affected the very nature of warfare, and of the society out of which it arose - and which it in turn transformed inexorably.


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