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The Gun that Changed the World

The Gun that Changed the World Hardback - 2006 - 1st Edition

by Elena Joly

  • New
  • Hardcover

Description

Hardback. New. * This is the autobiography of Mikhail Kalashnikov, the inventor of the world's most famous gun, the AK-47. * Offers a fascinating history of the weapon's development and spread throughout the world, as well as a window into the turbulent history of Russian in the twentieth century. * Contains over 30 halftones.
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Details

  • Title The Gun that Changed the World
  • Author Elena Joly
  • Binding Hardback
  • Edition number 1st
  • Edition 1
  • Condition New
  • Pages 224
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Polity Press
  • Date 2006-10-27
  • Illustrated Yes
  • Features Annotated, Bibliography, Glossary, Illustrated, Index, Table of Contents
  • Bookseller's Inventory # A9780745636917
  • ISBN 9780745636917 / 0745636918
  • Weight 0.85 lbs (0.39 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.36 x 6.3 x 0.87 in (21.23 x 16.00 x 2.21 cm)
  • Themes
    • Chronological Period: 20th Century
    • Cultural Region: Russian
  • Library of Congress subjects AK-47 rifle, Kalashnikov, M. T
  • Dewey Decimal Code B

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From the rear cover

The Russian word that is most frequently spoken throughout the world isn't Lenin, gulag or perestroika, it's 'Kalashnikov'. The reason for this is simple: there are 80 million Kalashnikovs in circulation on five continents. Once invented, the AK-47 assault rifle became the most widely used weapon in the world: from Vietnam to Palestine, from Cuba to Iraq, it was at the heart of conflicts and struggles everywhere. It is the only firearm that has ever been depicted on a national flag - that of Mozambique, where it symbolizes liberation.

Mikhail Kalashnikov himself, who was born in 1919, here tells his life story, with the help of Elena Joly, for the first time: his deportation to Siberia with his family while still a child; his time as a soldier in a tank regiment; his invention of the world's most famous weapon and his turbulent life under Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Gorbachev and Yeltsin. This is a remarkable portrait of a man of ingenuity and vitality in the context of the often frightening and terribly unforgiving Russia of the twentieth century.

About the author

Elena Joly listened to Kalashnikov as he told his story and has been careful to respect his spoken style. Born in the Soviet Union, she now lives in Paris. She was in charge of the 'Soviet section' of the French publishing house Actes Sud, and has written La Troisime Mort de Staline (1988), a series of interviews with intellectuals of the Gorbachev period.