Audiobook13 hours
Gun Country: Gun Capitalism, Culture, and Control in Cold War America
Written by Andrew C. McKevitt
Narrated by Bob Johnson
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
()
About this audiobook
Just as World War II transformed the United States into a global military and economic superpower, so too did it forge the gun country America is today. After 1945, war-ravaged European nations possessed large surpluses of mass-produced weapons, and American entrepreneurs seized the opportunity to buy used munitions for pennies on the dollar and resell them stateside. A booming consumer market made cheap guns accessible to millions of Americans, and rates of gun ownership and violence began to climb. Andrew C. McKevitt tells the history of this gun boom through the dynamics of consumer capitalism and Cold War ideology, the combination of which resulted in a vast number of Americans arming themselves to the teeth and centering their political identity on their guns.
When gun control legislation emerged in the 1960s, many Americans, accustomed to the unregulated postwar bounty of cheap guns and fearful of Soviet invasion, domestic subversion, and urban uprisings, fiercely challenged it. Meanwhile, gun control groups were diverted from their abolitionist roots toward a conciliatory, fundraising-focused strategy that struggled to limit the stockpiling of firearms. Gun Country recasts the story of guns in postwar America as one of Cold War and racial anxieties, unfettered capitalism, and exceptional violence that continues to haunt us.
When gun control legislation emerged in the 1960s, many Americans, accustomed to the unregulated postwar bounty of cheap guns and fearful of Soviet invasion, domestic subversion, and urban uprisings, fiercely challenged it. Meanwhile, gun control groups were diverted from their abolitionist roots toward a conciliatory, fundraising-focused strategy that struggled to limit the stockpiling of firearms. Gun Country recasts the story of guns in postwar America as one of Cold War and racial anxieties, unfettered capitalism, and exceptional violence that continues to haunt us.
Author
Andrew C. McKevitt
Andrew C. McKevitt is assistant professor of history at Louisiana Tech University.
Related to Gun Country
Related audiobooks
The Hidden History of Guns and the Second Amendment Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fear No Evil Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Brahmin: Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. and the Making of the Cold War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Last Liberal Republican: An Insider's Perspective on Nixon's Surprising Social Policy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Promise and the Dream Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Freedom Summer: The Savage Season That Made Mississippi Burn and Made America a Democracy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5John Jay: Founding Father Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Norco '80: The True Story of the Most Spectacular Bank Robbery in American History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Are One: The Story of Bayard Rustin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shield of David: A History of Jewish Servicemen in America's Armed Forces Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDorothy Day: Dissenting Voice of the American Century Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Two Americans: Truman, Eisenhower, and a Dangerous World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Loaded: A Disarming History of the Second Amendment Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Assassins, Traitors, and Spies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Accident of Color: A Story of Race in Reconstruction Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Year of the Hawk: America's Descent into Vietnam, 1965 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of Rachel Maddow's Prequel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fiend: The Shocking True Story Of America's Youngest Serial Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Really Happened In Wuhan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mobsters, Madams & Murder in Steubenville, Ohio: The Story of Little Chicago Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLiberty's Last Stand Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bugsy Siegel: The Dark Side of the American Dream Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Never Forget Our People Were Always Free: A Parable of American Healing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5America on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 60's Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Billy the Kid: The Endless Ride Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Modern History For You
77 Days of February: Living and Dying in Ukraine, Told by the Nation’s Own Journalists Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fascism: A Warning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed or Fail Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Midnight in Chernobyl: The Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rape of Nanking: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Massacre during the Second Sino-Japanese War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Disunited Nations: The Scramble for Power in an Ungoverned World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Memoirs of a Wartime Interpreter: From the Battle for Moscow to Hitler's Bunker Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Ghost Map Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cold War: A New History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hymns of the Republic: The Story of the Final Year of the American Civil War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Revolution: The War for Independence and the Birth of the United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5God's Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Social Upheaval Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Project MK-Ultra: The History of the CIA’s Controversial Human Experimentation Program Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thunderclap: A Memoir of Art and Life and Sudden Death Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Cure for Darkness: The Story of Depression and How We Treat It Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Summary of Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Gun Country
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings
0 ratings0 reviews