Guns Books

TOOLS OF VIOLENCE: GUNS, TANKS AND DIRTY BOMBS surveys weapons commonly misunderstood, offering chapters of facts and dispelling myths of modern weaponry. From weapons and their effects to the realities of delivery systems, TOOLS OF VIOLENCE packs in analysis of physical, political and psychological effects of weaponry, backing up analysis with interviews with those engaged in weapons technology, from soldiers and police to researchers, weapons specialists and more. Any military library needs this unique coverage.

this is a great book, i read it when i was younger, and it inspired me to join the navy and become a pilot. so if your thinking about become a pilot. this is a great book and insperation.

I love this book - I've owned it for a few years now and I still look at the pictures of the jets. The pictures are absolutely breathtaking.

Foss and Brennan go much in thevein of books by Eric Hammel, but what I find better in this book is the length of the excerpts. Covering four wars, they let each pilot describe a longer sequence of events than what is found in Hammel's books, for example Jeff De Blanc gives an account of his miraculous rescue after being shot down over Kolombangara. In Hammel's Aces Part 1, the reader is left wondering about that bit.

First-hand accounts can be boring, but not one of this book's accounts is.

Life is dangerous in Norris's first collection, which won the 1999 Willa Cather Fiction Prize. There's no safety even for the innocent, like Joe in "Prisoner of War," who ends up in the middle of some war games while hiking near his home, or Anna and Beth in "Black Ice," who take a ride in the mountains and get caught in an ice storm. In the title story, a toy gun leads to a confrontation; in "Stray Dogs," a young girl lies and steals after being followed by a stray dog; and in "Interior Country," a woman fleeing her abusive husband ends up witnessing a murder. In the ironic "Trailer People," a researcher receives consolation from the people being studied, and in "Swimming," an extra marital affair leads to disaster. Reminiscent of Raymond Carver, these ten stories have a powerful impact that keeps reverberating long after you finish reading them. Highly recommended.--Joshua Cohen, Mid-Hudson Lib. syst., Poughkeepsie, NY

This, the story of Cass Darringer, is the first or one of the first in the Darringer brothers series. Cass is shot as he returns to camp where he left his partner Shorty and 3 railroad men who were visiting. Barely conscious, he gets to camp to find Shorty murdered and the 3 other men hanged. Vigilante justice. The horses Cass and Shorty had ready to sell were missing. Cass passes out and when he comes to, finds he has been rescued by Texas and her uncle, Joker.

Ben Darringer has been sent to prison but the sister of the man he killed arranges a conditional pardon if he will hire on as a gunfighter to protect her family, the Barkers, in the coming range war. Of course, the other side has done the same. Elena Barker is coveted by many men who hope to make her their bride but the Holder brothers aided by their father make early and determined attempts. Unfortunately, bathing a few times a year, shaving only occasionally, and wearing smelly clothes do not endear them to her. And as the range war heats up, the Holders are the second front against which the Barkers must fight. This is one of the Darringer series in which more than one Darringer brother brings his talents to the table. The Darringer series have many of the same plot elements but enough things are different to make each one stand alone on its own merits and to keep the individual books and the series itself interesting. Once you begin the Darringer stories, you will want to read them all.

One of Martin's Darringer series, this book is about Sam Darringer. Determined to see the world, what there is of it in the west, Sam signs on to accompany a trail drive to Montana Territory as a first step to "see the elephant". He's hired for his gun, to protect a hothouse flower named Angela from abduction by (or from running away with) a handsome outlaw with whom she is infatuated. This beauty-and-beast plot is saved by several subplots, not the least of which is Sam's attraction to the little sister Lisa, a tomboy to say the least who tries to be her father's son. A strong secondary character is Nika, an elderly Comanche who was saved from death by Lisa and who now is devoted to her and is her protector, sometimes saving her from herself. The handsome outlaw does abduct Angela, who quickly learns that everything her father told her about the guy was true. Sam, Lisa, Nika, and the happy-go-lucky cowboy Joker ride to the rescue. Angela is spirited away from the outlaw camp, sadder but wiser, and later will look at Joker with new eyes. The outlaw is arrested, tried, and convicted but grabs a gun in the courtroom, snatches Lisa as his hostage, and leaves. Lisa pretends to faint and her dead weight causes the outlaw to drop her enough that Sam can put him out of everyone's misery and save the day. Then he rides off into the sunset but some months later returns to claim Lisa as his bride. I have to say I liked this one better than some of the other Darringer books. I'm just not yet used to the New Age sensitive cowboy who cries as easily as he draws his gun, or the irasicible old codger ranch owner who also cries easily. I guess it is a Nineties kind of thing. It did make me determined to interview some old codgers whose pappies lived that kind of life to see if they saw much crying among the men. I don't think they did, and I doubt if they saw much among the women, either. It's still a good western.

Skye Fargo has gotten mixed up with the wrong woman before, but now he's in way over his head. In San Francisco he rescues a kidnapped Hawaiian beauty named Kean. Her captor is the most feared man on all the seven seas, Captain Theodore Strang, and he's obsessed with her. He reclaims Kean as his "betrothed," forces Fargo into servitude, and then embarks on a very bumpy ride back to Hawaii to seal the deal. Strang is about to learn the hard way that Skye Fargo ain't no servant, and he ain't the sort to abandon ship until this woman is free.

This book has to stand out in this long running series due to the fact that it, mainly, takes place on board a ship and in Hawaii, than in the usual American West. In fact it's the sequences on the ship that I enjoyed the most. The comparisons made between sailing the oceans and riding a horse through the landscape of the West made for some thoughtful reading. And who will forget Fargo's encounter with a shark? Not to mention the chasing down of a group of whales?

Jon Sharpe grabs your attention from the word go and doesn't lose his grip until the end. All his trademarks are here too, the cliff-hanger chapter endings, the savage action interspersed with moments of humour, and his descriptive writing painting magical imagery in the mind's eye.

For fans of the Trailsman, or just for those who enjoy an exciting read, this book is a must have.

Highly recommended.

This is number 31 in The Trailsman series and was published in July,1984.It reads as well today as when it was first published. It is one of the early episodes in the seies that has been so popular that it has continued every month, and is now at number 305.
This episode takes place on both sides of the border between Mexico and Texas; not far from Larado in 1864.
Skye Fargo,The Trailsman,has agreed to bring a herd of prized Arabian horses from a ranch in Mexico for Bill Anderson in Kansas,who bought them.Anderson hopes these Arabians will help him become the leading breeder of fine horses in America.
Sounds easy,except for French Soldiers,the rancher's daughter,Apaches,Mexican Rebels all intent to prevent Skye in his mission.
The story is filled with good Old West shoot-outs,fights,and just about anything you could expect to happen.
The stoty is full of suspense and action and keeps you glued to the story. Well written and gives a good idea of how tough things were in this area a year before the end of The Civil War.
In this tale,just like recent ones, The Trailsman seems to face impossible situations and odds,but through skill and determination,comes out the winner.
"The Trailsman,the man who could see where others only looked,his skills for sale but not his soul."