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Mr. Gatling's Terrible Marvel: The Gun That Changed Everything and the Misunderstood Genius Who Invented It |
by: Julia Keller
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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 973
EAN: 9780143115649
ISBN: 0143115642
Label: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 320
Publication Date: May 26, 2009
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Release Date: May 26, 2009
Studio: Penguin (Non-Classics)
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- see more
- Books > Subjects > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Scientists
- Books > Subjects > History > Americas > United States > 19th Century > General
- Books > Subjects > History > Americas > United States > General
- Books > Subjects > History > Americas > United States > General AAS
- Books > Subjects > History > Military > Weapons & Warfare > Conventional > General
Editorial Review:
Product Description:
A Pulitzer Prize winner explores the role of the first machine gun in transforming America into a superpower
Although it was little used during the American Civil Warthe time in which it was inventedthe Gatling gun soon changed the nature of warfare and the course of world history. Discharging two hundred shots per minute with alarming accuracy, the worlds first machine gun became vitally important to protecting and expanding Americas overseas interests. Its inventor, Richard Gatling, was famous in his own time for creating and improving many industrial designs, from bicycles and steamship propellers to flush toilets. A man of great business and scientific acumen, Gatling actually proposed his gun as a way of saving lives, thinking it would decrease the size of armies and, therefore, make it easier to supply soldiers and reduce malnutrition deaths. The scientists who unleashed Americas atomic arsenal less than a century later would see it much the same way.
In Mr. Gatlings Terrible Marvel, Julia Keller offers a riveting account of the Gatling guns invention, its misunderstood creator, and its tremendous impact on American and world events. She also shows how the gun, in its combination of ingenuity, idealism, and destructive power, perfectly exemplified the paradox of Americas rise as a world superpower.
Average Rating: 
Rating:
- A great subject not given the treatment it deservedIn 1862, with the American Civil War deepening, and showing signs of becoming a long and bloody maelstrom, Indiana businessman and inventor Richard Jordan Gatling came up with a weapon that was so terrible that he believed that it would end large drawn-out wars. However, the Gatling gun accomplished no such thing - it did indeed help to make wars more bloody and horrific, but it did nothing to end them. This is the history of Mr. Gatling's invention, and the rise of America's power, and the terrible ... Read More
Rating:
- Technically LackingAuthor Keller's inability to provide actual details about the subject Gatling Gun is only exceeded by her lack of technical knowlege of firearms. Though the book has limited historical information of the 19th Century Industrial age, it is titled and sold as an accounting of the subject weapon. There are only scant descriptions of the actual workings of the machine gun and no details of the materials, methods of manufacture and use of the "Marvel."
Rating:
- Ms. Keller's Terrible HistoryThere are sundry problems with this book. It didn't hold my attention, and it took me weeks to finally be able to finish it off, instead of a couple days. As mentioned in the Washington Post review, she makes many sweeping statements without supporting them, which could be fine in a human interest story in the paper, but not for a history book. She also has issues with incorrect technical concepts, such as distinguishing between bullets and cartridges, or explaining gas or recoil operated mechanisms ... Read More
Rating:
- Term paper timeDid you ever have to write a term paper on something you knew NOTHING about? You'd repeat the title, rearrange it and the repeat it again and then add in irrelevant asides, anything to generate words in a futile attempt to cover up the fact that you had NOTHING to say about the subject.
This book is one of those term papers. "More than a biography" says one of the "top reviewers". How about "where's the biography"?
About the only things I learned about Gatling was his name, that ... Read More
Rating:
- Ms. Keller's Bad BookI bought this book assuming that it it was a biography revealing details of how Gatling's life developed to lead him toward his many accomplishments. it is not; rather it is nine tenths sociological asides. There errors of fact misunderstandings of analysis, poor and inadequate illustrations and in general was a disappointing and frustrating read. I did read it but not happily.
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