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Cover of the book American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15

To hear a snippet of the audiobook, click below:

PRAISE FOR
AMERICAN GUN 

NYT Book Review for American Gun
2024 Lukas Shortlist American Gun The True Story of the AR-15
Kirkus Review icon linking to its review of American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15
The New Yorker for American Gun
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The Washington Post for American Gun
Publishers Weekly icon linking to its review of American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15

"[A] magisterial work of narrative history and original reportage.....Policymakers and the public alike have much to learn from it."

Shortlisted for the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize from the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University and the Columbia Journalism School

In its starred review, Kirkus Reviews declares American Gun “superb history,” “insightful,” “meticulously researched,” and “impressively informed.” “Ultimately, readers gain an unsettling and timely understanding of how ‘a device created to protect America [is] wounding it.’ A riveting exploration of the cost of the nation’s fascination with an iconic weapon.”

Kirkus Reviews picks American Gun for its list of top nonfiction books of 2023

"One of the most unexpected questions raised by their history of the semi-automatic rifle, which has been used by the perpetrators of many of the worst mass shootings in American history, is the following: What if the edgelord identity embraced by many mass shooters is not the result of alienation or mental illness but instead speaks to a successful marketing push of an industry doing business as usual."

New Yorker editors pick American Gun as one of the best books of 2023.

American Gun is a finalist for a 2024 Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

The Guardian calls American Gun “an indispensable read.” Author and journalist Charles Kaiser writes: "Written by two fine Wall Street Journal reporters, Cameron McWhirter and Zusha Elinson, the book is packed with characters and plot turns...”

“[R]iveting history....This book is not to be missed." 

Journalist Mark Follman writes: “American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15,” by journalists Cameron McWhirter and Zusha Elinson, is a deeply reported, engrossing account of the rifle, tracing its evolution from battlefield combat to today’s domestic carnage and culture war. 

The Washington Post picks American Gun for its list of most notable nonfiction of 2023.

Publishers Weekly: "Wall Street Journal reporters McWhirter (Red Summer) and Elinson tell a captivating tale of unintended consequences in this deeply researched history of the AR-15...The result is a fascinating genealogy of a weapon that has become the flashpoint of the contemporary gun control debate."

Cover of King: A Life, by Jonathan Eig.

Jonathan Eig, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning King: A Life: "American Gun is an unforgettable story of American ingenuity and mayhem, built with hard-core reporting and gripping prose. This is social history at its finest."

AP for American Gun

Andrew DeMillo of the Associated Press: "The well-reported book is vital for anyone who wants to understand how Stoner’s creation transformed over time into what the authors call the 'fulcrum of America’s great gun divide.' "

Booklist for American Gun

James Pekoll: “This is an excellent, thoroughly researched synthesis…presented in an even-handed manner that has the potential to bridge the divide between all but the most committed partisans. Such a highly charged subject deserves a well-written analysis, grounded in facts and presented with journalistic detachment, and McWhirter and Elinson deliver on all counts.”

© 2022 Cameron McWhirter

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