The Gunning of America, Pamela Haag
The Gunning of America, Pamela Haag
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The Gunning of America
Business and the Making of American Gun Culture

Author: Pamela Haag

Narrator: Bernadette Dunne

Unabridged: 16 hr 28 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/19/2016


Synopsis

Americans have always loved guns. This special bond was forged during the American Revolution and sanctified by the Second Amendment. It is because of this exceptional relationship that American civilians are more heavily armed than the citizens of any other nation. Or so we’re told.In The Gunning of America, historian Pamela Haag overturns this conventional wisdom. American gun culture, she argues, developed not because the gun was exceptional but precisely because it was not: guns proliferated in America because throughout most of the nation’s history they were perceived as an unexceptional commodity, no different than buttons or typewriters.Focusing on the history of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, one of the most iconic arms manufacturers in America, Haag challenges many basic assumptions of how and when America became a gun culture. Under the leadership of Oliver Winchester and his heirs, the company used aggressive, sometimes ingenious, sales and marketing techniques to create new markets for their product. Guns have never “sold themselves”; rather, through advertising and innovative distribution campaigns, the gun industry did. Through the meticulous examination of gun-industry archives, Haag challenges the myth of a primal bond between Americans and their firearms. Over the course of its 150-year history, the Winchester Repeating Arms Company sold over eight million guns. But Oliver Winchester—a shirtmaker in his previous career—had no apparent qualms about a life spent arming America. His daughter-in-law Sarah Winchester was a different story. Legend holds that Sarah was haunted by what she considered a vast blood fortune, and became convinced that the ghosts of rifle victims were haunting her.In this provocative and deeply researched work of narrative history, Haag fundamentally revises the history of arms in America and, in so doing, explodes the clichés that have created and sustained our lethal gun culture.

About Pamela Haag

Pamela Haag holds a PhD in history from Yale University and has been awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, a Mellon Fellowship, and post­doctoral awards from Brown and Rutgers universities. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

About Bernadette Dunne

Bernadette Dunne is the winner of numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards and has twice been nominated for the prestigious Audie Award. She studied at the Royal National Theatre in London and the Studio Theater in Washington, DC, and has appeared at the Kennedy Center and off Broadway.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Randall on March 05, 2021

There are an estimated 300 million privately owned guns in the United States today, but only 276 million registered vehicles. So how do MAGA gun nuts plan to stop the government once the commies finally take over, by carpooling? Before “the Winchester” could become the “Gun That Won the West” it was......more

Goodreads review by Avery on December 30, 2023

This is a fascinating read. It’s a historical look at the development of gun culture in America. I’d recommend it to anyone interested in guns, or in American gun culture in general.......more

Goodreads review by Elaine on June 03, 2017

I hope this author writes a whole book based on her epilogue, because this was one of the best books I've read in a while and the epilogue had some great ideas in it that I'd like to see expanded. Basically, the author started out fascinated with Sarah Winchester's house and from there realized that......more

Goodreads review by Steve on April 09, 2019

I finished the unabridged audiobook this week. Some of the complaints about the book are well founded. The title of the work suggests the book will encompass the entire history of America’s gun business. It focuses primarily on the fortunes of the Winchester company and the 19th and early 20th centur......more

Goodreads review by Steven on January 01, 2017

Fascinating book. I expected this book to get into the politics of guns but really what this book looked closely at was the evolution of guns in America & how this country became the ultimate supplier of guns to all the foreign markets in the world. - Before the 1800's, most guns in America (and aro......more


Quotes

“In this fascinating account, Haag traces the history of America’s gun-making business…Both convincingly argued and eminently readable, Haag’s book will intrigue readers on all sides of the gun control debate.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“This important book speaks directly to the ideas that underpin the strident political debate on guns today. It will appeal to anyone interested in American history, business history, or modern politics.” Library Journal (starred review)

“Haag, an award-winning historian and essayist, has turned a wide and deep lens to America’s gun culture…The author has smoothly brought together a huge amount of archival research, wide historical sources, and contemporary perspectives as recent as 2015. This book should attract many readers.” Booklist

“A refreshingly unusual approach by an author admirably transparent about why she wrote the book and why she chose to avoid more traditional approaches.” Kirkus Reviews

“Pamela Haag has written a very smart book, deeply researched, original, provocative. The compelling narrative makes a powerful argument about the origins of America’s gun culture.” John Mack Faragher, Howard R. Lamar Professor of History, Yale University

“Firearms may be instruments of death. But they are also, as Pamela Haag reveals in her thought-provoking reassessment of guns in American life, economic commodities—so much so, that it can be difficult at times to discern where business culture ends and gun culture begins.” Karl Jacoby, author of Shadows at Dawn: A Borderlands Massacre and the Violence of History

“An exceptional, fresh perspective about the gun culture in America. Pamela Haag thoroughly examines the history of America’s long-term relationship with guns while offering an insightful, informative philosophy as to when and how this love affair began.” Wes Moore, founder and CEO of BridgeEdU


Awards

  • Kirkus Reviews Pick