Guns Books

I enjoyed the book enough that I wish it had been longer. There are enough pages, but they seem to go fast. John Wilcox is not Bernard Cornwell, Zane Grey, or my latest idol, Sam Barone, but he writes a nice story. Most of his main characters are very likable, and the reader can cheer when the villains get their just desserts. The female lead is somewhat exasperating. Sometimes she is portrayed sympathetically, and at other times she is vain and self centered. If you've read Patrick O'Brian's Captain Aubrey series, there's a woman named Diana that reminds me of Alice in the Simon Fonthill series. I think everyone was glad when she finally drowned, and unless Alice's character improves by learning from the mistakes she's made in her life, I think I shall be glad if she falls by the wayside. I also have an issue in the series with false cowboys, rigged duels, and commanders dumber than dirt. But for the time being I intend to buy the series although I have reservations about it. Why, because the series is just good enough, I like the time period, and I just can't help feeling that the one book I don't buy will be the one where the author finally puts together a masterpiece.

There is nothing more satisfying than an adventure series that keeps delivering winners. Knowing that you can purchase a book and be entertained year after year makes reading a joy.

Wilcox delivers again with The Guns of El Kabir. In his fifth annual installment of the /simon Fonthill series, Wilcox has Simon and 352in Egypt fighting a war not dissimilar than the current war in Iraq. All of the usual cast of characters. Particularly warming is the growing relationship between Fonthill and 352. While they bear a striking resemblance to Sharpe and Harper, the main characters continue to work.

Sure the book is formulaic: incompetent British officers, dastardly Arabs, a hero who can get out of the worst messes with seeming ease. Yet, in the hands of a master, it works. I would at some point appreciate an index of the various wounds Fonthill has suffered. His body must look like a pin-cushion!

So, get your annual fix, buy The Guns of El Kabir and prepare to be entertained!

a must book for history buffs living in new england. there were things happening in places outside of the mass. during the founding of our country. an excellent travel guide!

I didn't read this book per se, but did look at the illustrations which were very good. Relied on what Amazon said about it. Knew it was good and belonged in our Special Collections unit at the local college. They were very pleased to get it.

I read this book, translated to the portuguese, when I was a child.I still have this book.I should tell you, that this book is concise, short and easy to read.Why I don't give 5 stars for it?Well, this book has basically nothing, about soviet artillery .I fact soviet artillery beteween 1941-1945 was the biggest in world history.I think that, when this book was writen in 1970's decade wasn't possible to have trustable information about soviet artillery in World War II.The japanese artillery also has very limited writen in this book.
If you want to see the table of contents of this book, in English, I don't have it.I want to translate to English the brazilian table of contents, with some coments from myself:
1-The Thunder of war>Introduction writen by Barrie Pitt.
2-The begginings >The artillery in beggining of World War II.
3-Division's artillery > Equipments from England, USA,etc.
4-Anti-tank artillery > Guns and anmunitions anti-tanks.
5-Steel's roof >Anti-aircraft artillery in World War II.
6-Heavy weight guns > The great cannons,mortars and coastal defense.
7-The Newton's artillery > Guns without recoil.
8-Crude guns > Crude artillery produced.All with limited or no results at all.
9-Table of dates > Weights, sizes, range,etc. of artillery in World War II.
10-Bibliography > Books about this subject.

This is an excellent overview of artillery and anti-tank guns of the Axis and the Allies during World War II.

The emphasis is on the technology and capabilities of the individual guns, which you'd think would render the prose rather tedious. But author Ian Hogg writes very well and keeps it interesting.

The text is punctuated with numerous photographs and illustrations.

In HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL you will here about Paladin a man that is a gun for hired but only if the price is right and the cause is right. He is a man that stands up to those that defy law and order and is a man that attempts to right wrongs. Sort of like the Lone Ranger without the mask.

The characteristic of John Dehner that stands out in this radio series is his distinctive voice - usually an aset in classic radio. His authoritative (and slightly superior) air and excellent diction played well as Paladin, the mysterious man who was a West Point graduate and student of military and other history. Was he a hired gun? Perhaps, but in fact he was much more. He made moral and practical judgements of the people he met, didn't discriminate against minorities, and treated others with respect and demanded the same of them.

Although Richard Boone made a visual icon of the TV Paladin, Dehner played the western hero in the only series that traveled to radio after it began production as a TV program. The radio series ran from late 1958 to late 1960, and Dehner played Paladin in all the programs. His delivery is impeccable throughout, and the resulting programs are well worth listening to. Although some of the scripts are spin-offs of the TV series, many are original.

If you're a fan of Have Gun Will Travel, these programs make great listening while driving on trips or spending a quiet evening at home.

This book rises above two problems: errors/typos and terrible binding. It's a fat little book with very short pages so it's difficult to open it wide enough to read easily.
And you're going to want to open it wide because they pack alot of info in there. The book is broken down by weapon type (pistol, rifle, light machine-gun, etc.) and you will find most of the well known weapons in here with plenty of weird one-offs and forgotten ancestors.
The basic info for each gun is mostly complete and the text and photo is generally well-done. The typos are frequent enough to annoy and there are some obvious errors including the wrong weapon description being used for one entry.
Still a very good addition to a basic library on firearms because few are as comprehensive and feature so many good photographs.

This is great book considering its price. It is almost identical to the Jane's Gun Recognition Guide except it is cheaper and doesn't contain as many errors. It has any gun from the year 1900 to the present. I did have trouble finding the SA80. I thought it would have it considering there is a picture of one on the back. But still, this book is a great buy for people who are looking for a good book that contains lots of information on weapons.

I have both the JG26 War Diaries written also by Donald Caldwell. This Photographic reference is an excellent supplement to these volumes with very little duplication of photographs. It is well laid out with each chapter describing a set time during JG26's existence. A useful extra is the extensive colour plates of each major version of aircraft flown by the Geschwader and the closing chapter that covers paint schemes and markings that tie back to the colour plates. Very recommended.

This is a must-have book for anyone interested in modelling the aircraft of the Luftwaffe's Jadgeschwader 26. Packed with black and white photos of the aircraft and crews in combat and at rest, it provides the details one is looking for when attempting to accurately model a specific aircraft. It contains interesting, if breif, text passages about JG26, along with (24) color profile plates. Chapter 10 is dedicated entirely to textual descriptions of camoflage and markings used by the Gruppe throughout the war. Also of interest are humerous photographs found throughout the book proving that while war is indeed hell, it has it's lighter moments too!

Very nicely written book with great hunting pictures, but if you're looking for specific infomation about guns this is not the book for you. The author dedicates more time on historical hunting trips and the hunters that undertook them than on their guns.

Wonderful book, photographs, history and high quality information for all serious hunter worldwide ! Congratulations for the Author !

This is definitely a great book as far as information and diagrams, and it is laid out in a very logical manner for reference. It has some information and a few photos in it that you wont even find on the internet. The only problem is that the front cover can be a little misleading. It shows a color photograph, and the book actually has no color photographs, which is disappointing because there are so many variations as far as tip color designations and different sealer colors. Most of the black & white photos in the book are ok, but there's a fair amount that look sort of mediocre, like photocopied almost. As long as you're ok with black & white photos, and not being able to see tip-color or casing & bullet colorations, then 90% of this book is totally fine. I would buy it for any price up to $40.00

I am a cartridge collector & this book is one of my most used references. I don't think there is a better book out there dealing with this area. There are over 370 pages of photos, cartridge dimensions, histories & devlopement, variations. The list of information goes on & on. It is well layed out, so everything is easy to find. If you are a military cartridge collector or just a military buff. It doesn't get much better than this.

As evident by the title, this book recounts both the dogs and guns of John Graves. Mr Graves talks about Blue, a crossbred Basque-Australian sheepdog, in such a loving manner that you feel you know the dog when you are done reading. The writing in this book is honest, and heartfelt. It's a quick, fun read, that you should certainly pick up

My husband and my sons love dogs and guns. But I've never had much interest in either of them. Until now. This is a wonderful book and I expect to give many copies out as gifts to all the folk I know who have dogs and an interest in guns.
--CL

This book keeps getting beaten up for not being science or pure sociology, and reviewers keep missing what is excellent about it--the intersection of the writer's own reflections, aspirations and ideas with the violent, dull, and endless world of incarcerated young men. Padnos's honesty about his own motives and feelings give this book a rare freshness. In his attempts to connect the books he loves to the real and brutal world of these men, he illuminates much about the struggles of growth, the uneven progress of our ambitions, and the enduring power of stories to shape all of our lives.

Jailhouse literature is a rising trend these days, and it is producing some of the toughest, most original, most disturbing nonfiction on the market. From the lost souls at Guantanamo Bay to the terrifying Aryan gangs that kill and terrorize from behind bars to the dread-soaked life of a Sing Sing guard, a composite portrait is emerging of the mostly invisible Hell that is the American prison system and the dehumanizing effects it has on inmates and their keepers alike.

Theo Padnos has made a quirky, but brilliant and unforgettable contribution to this literature. From his vantage point as a part-time English teacher in a gothic juvenile detention center in Vermont, Padnos draws us--almost against our will--into a collection of scary, wretched, lost young men who have been obliterated from the view of "respectable" society. In terse, electric, revelatory prose, sparing neither his subjects nor himself, he obliges us to see them for who they inescapably are: versions of ourselves, versions of an America drifting toward apocalypse.

This is a book that demands attention--more attention, by the way, than it received from the prissy, careless Publishers Weekly reviewer quoted above. In garbling the name of one of the chief characters in this book, Laird (not "Lance"!) Stanard, the PW scribe unwittingly represents the blindness and indifference of a society that is a lot more complacent about its incarcerated alter-egos than perhaps it can afford to be.