The gun
by C. J. Chivers · first published 2010
16mentions
11recommended by
13HN commenters
2011–2022first – last mentioned
85% recommend15% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Well-researched history of the AK-47 and its spread, covering the wider context of automatic weapons and early Soviet rifles; suits readers interested in military history and the Kalashnikov's place in war.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…the blueprints instead of shipping examples to its satellites, and then when all the assorted states using it collapsed they lost control of their stockpiles. A good book for the history of it is The Gun (https://www.amazon.com/Gun-C-J-Chivers/dp/0743271734). Its essential point is that weapons of war are usually very durable goods, and outlive the geopolitical purposes for which they are produced and…
on “M-16: A Bureaucratic Horror Story (1981)” ↗This is a great book about the AK-47, the big "alternative" to the M16: http://www.amazon.com/The-Gun-C-J-Chivers/dp/0743271734 The Author, C.J. Chivers, writes an interesting blog for the NY Times where they attempt to ID munitions from the battlefield in Africa, Syria, etc. http://cjchivers.com/
on “The AR-15 Is More Than a Gun. It’s a Gadget” ↗everyone with any interest in the AK-47 should read http://cjchivers.com/aboutthegun (The Gun, by CJ Chivers). Although it spends a lot of time examining historical contexts for machine guns, and assault rifles in general - the AK-47 stuff is great. The comparison with the M-16 in particular…
on “Why did the AK-47 become so popular?” ↗"The Gun" by C. J. Chivers was an interesting book that covered a lot of the making of the AK-47. Kalashnikov was a very interesting character who was wrapped up in cold war rhetoric and who frequently said contradictory…
on “Kalashnikov 'feared he was to blame' for AK-47 rifle deaths” ↗"The Gun" by C.J. Chivers (https://www.amazon.com/Gun-C-J-Chivers/dp/0743271734) I read it not so much as a historical text but as a story about dramatic shifts in power attributed to technological advancement…
on “Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?” ↗To be honoured by a 100-million-gun salute? I'd highly recommend "The Gun", a history of the Kalashnikov by New York Times journalist CJ Chivers. [his blog and articles are also excellent]. Kalashnikov-like guns are maybe comparable to…
on “AK47 assault rifle inventor Kalashnikov dies at 94” ↗If this article was interesting to you, I strongly recommend "The Gun", by C.J. Chivers. It's a history of the "AK family of rifles", and the AK-47 in particular. It starts well before that, with the impact of automatic weapons on warfare in general, but quickly comes…
on “The AK-47” ↗…Chinese Type 56 assault rifle, which is a Kalashnikov knock-off and is far more common in the US than the real thing. Most people can't tell the difference between the two. BTW, I highly recommend "The Gun" by C.J. Chivers. It's a fascinating historical treatise about this weapon.
on “Redis: the AK-47 of databases” ↗I love this blog, along with CJ Chivers (the NY Times guy who wrote "The Gun"), and a few others. Sad about Reader, still, for reasons like this.
on “How Brown Moses exposed Syrian arms trafficking from his front room” ↗Interesting article. For info on the infantry units primary weapon I recommend The Gun by C. J. Chivers. It bills itself as a history of the AK-47 pattern rifle but it also covers early Soviet weapons such as the Mosin family of rifles.
on “Inside the Soviet Army, what kind of weapons” ↗"The Gun" by C.J. Chivers is about the history of the AK47 and how it changed war. The AK remains an affordable, durable piece of technology that anyone could use, and effectively do so with minimal training,…
on “Ask HN: What are some good (fiction/non-fiction) books about human progress?” ↗You might find "The Gun" but CJ Chivers very interesting. It covers the history you're talking about accurately and in depth.
on “Colt is ending production of AR-15s” ↗If you ever get the chance 'The Gun' by CJ Chivers is a fascinating history of the AK47 and its spread around the world.
on “The Last Gunsmiths of the Khyber Pass” ↗…AKMs.) The US, by contrast, had spent the decades since WWII resisting the assault rifle concept, so that when Vietnam rolled around their fantastically rich and well-funded military found its infantry outgunned by peasant militias wielding second-hand Soviet rifles. So the rifle went from initial acceptance, including these kinds of stupid last-minute design changes that are common in any project, to large-scale…
on “M-16: A Bureaucratic Horror Story (1981)” ↗…are shooting at you with ultra-reliable AK-47s. The M-16 is one of the reasons we lost that war. C. J. Chivers writes about the sordid history of the M-16's development and deployment in his book "The Gun" (link below) I have often joked that the US government _wants_ their citizens to buy AR-15s because an AR-15-equipped citizenry is effectively disarmed. I was astonished to hear that the Orlando shooter…