Corruptgarage

A must read for Vietnam war history

Revisado: 09-06-21

One of my most read subjects are the CIA's actions both home and abroad, as well as the Vietnam war in general. Even reading this book in 2021 and knowing quite a bit about both subjects, I've learned quite a few new things I did not before, such as details about CIA black sites in Vietnam like Lima site 85 and "Spook Heaven", as well as a few more interesting details about the controversial shamed POW Robert Garwood. At the time this book was published in 1991 this must have been absolutely incredible, as this info wasn't nearly as common as it is today with the internet and a little bit of curiosity about the war. I'll probably take a second listen to this in the near future just to be able to digest a few of the details later for my own research. It's worth noting that the narrator Bernadette Dunne did a great job, and I was able to make it through this book very quickly, her voice was excellent. Highly recommended for anyone interested in POWs, Vietnam, or the CIA/ Deep State.

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Thorough and candid insight into a horrific loss.

Revisado: 05-02-21

Before reading this I've watched the notorious first hand film taken from inside the club as the fire unfolded, and seen a few documentaries on the disaster on youtube. Most of them are concerned with the injuries of the survivors and stories from grieving family members, but none of them dive this deep into both the technical, legal and personal facets of the tragedy and leading up to it the way this book does, and I would consider this to be the definitive book on the subject at this time. One thing to note is that this book does not aim to place blame on who may or may not have been at fault for the fire, but rather shows that many people, including the concertgoers themselves, each played their own role leading up to the fateful night.

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Insightful and well written and performed

Revisado: 05-05-19

A brilliant examination of a life and a war both. Worth the read. The Vietnam war, we now know was a farce and a waste of life, but never has it been shown how unwinnable it really was as done in this book. The incompetence and corruption of the ARVN/Saigon regime as well as a gigantic beaurocratic war machine all had the perfect recipe for disaster, and Sheehan goes into painstaking detail to examine how from top to bottom, Ngo and his military had no chance against the Viet Minh. John Vann for all his faults also was brilliant, and the author makes no attempt to try to sway us to look over his questionable and sometimes abhorrent behavior in his personal life, but as we come to understand his upbringing we can understand where his moral depravity had been forged, and we can judge the man more honestly and thoroughly. Robertson Dean's narration made this a pleasure to listen to, and I will surely be listening again in the future for a second time.

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I listened twice

Revisado: 02-07-19

never listened to an audiobook twice over. This story hits harder than anything I've read/listened to, and there's so much action/violence on the surface that it seems you could easily lose some of the deeper underlying meaning of the dialogue should you not stop to dwell on it for a bit. Thats why I gave it another second listening right after, I forsee listening a third time again this year. The narrator did an amazing performance and brought the characters alive for me.

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Must read for AK enthusiasts and history buffs

Revisado: 07-23-16

What made the experience of listening to The Gun the most enjoyable?

The story and the narrator.

Any additional comments?

Overall, the book is excellent. I waited until after reading (listening to) the book to read about the author as not try to project my ideas about his background onto his words, and take them for face value. The book covers some major milestones in the history of firearms, leading up to the beginning of the automatic rifle changing the way battles were fought and the struggles that world armed forces faced in initial design, implementation, and production of the weapons as well as how tactics changed before and after it's widespread use. Throughout the book the author comes back and forth to the AK, often used as juxtaposition for the topic of the chapter at hand. The AK is definitely the main topic of the book, and the middle and much of the end deal with the Soviet Union's history and policy on weapons, a brief biography of Kalashnikov, the initial design and production of the weapon, and how it was distributed or authorized for manufacture (or not) by other comblock countries. It makes mention of all of the well known factories like Tula, Izshmash, Radom, Circle 10 and others.

One section I found incredibly interesting was a brief section on how the US dropped the ball in it's failure to keep up with the rest of the world in weapons design and why they made the choices they did leading up to the mid 20th century. It also deals with the initial development, testing, and backroom deals which led to the military's adoption of what would be the M-16, and the disaster that followed its debut in Vietnam. The testing section blew me away with some of the questionable and outright horrific details of the US military's "testing" of the AR-15, and I honestly can't help but hate the thing more now than I did prior to reading the book.

After finishing the book I felt the author was very knowledgeable and well versed in military tactics and policies, but felt by some of his passages that he was somewhat "anti-gun" in respect to private ownership, though in fair he explicitly says in the preface that the book would not take on the subject of the AK or semi or fully auto weapons and their place in US citizens' hands. He does however lament on what it seems he feels is an overall negative contribution the AK has made on the globe. He also seems to paint Kalashnikov himself in a very negative light, and portrays him as both a victim of the soviet union's ruthless policies, and a pathetic manufactured personality cult by the same people who sought to destroy his family. He does this all while making serious implications about the actual contributions General Kalashnikov made in his namesake firearm.

All in all, it's a great read (or listen), and actually has had me doing a little more digging and reading on various subjects of which my interest was triggered during and after reading. Recommended for AK guys who also like reading about history and politics both.

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A great look look back at the man and the company

Revisado: 08-18-15

A great presentation of Soichiro Honda ' s modest beginnings and their innovative ways which have helped shaped the automotive industry and set new standards in automobile manufacturing.

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