Bookshelf

Alumni and faculty members who would like to have their books considered for this listing should contact Stacey Himmelberger, editor of Hamilton magazine. This list, which dates back to 2018, is updated periodically with books appearing alphabetically on the date of entry.

American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15 by Cameron McWhirter ’86 and Zusha Elinson

November 8, 2023

Tags Alumni Book

(New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023).

The authors, both Wall Street Journal reporters, tell how an amateur gun designer pursuing a hobby in his garage would invent a rifle that has become what they call the “fulcrum of America’s great gun divide.” In the 1950s, Eugene Stoner aimed to devise a lightweight, easy-to-use weapon for American soldiers and their allies during the Cold War. The Marine veteran achieved his goal with the AR-15 rifle. But how did the same gun, which under the name M16 would become standard equipment in Vietnam, evolve into the weapon of choice for troubled individuals intent on killing fellow American schoolchildren, concertgoers, and grocery shoppers? “[Written] in calm, precise language that allows the authors’ exhaustive research to shine through, ... you can feel the tension building one cold, catastrophic fact at a time,” notes The New York Times Book Review. “Among the authors’ feats of reportage was getting gun company executives and entrepreneurs to speak candidly on the record, a virtually unprecedented achievement.” In what is both a biography of the inventor and his invention, American Gun takes a deep dive into the U.S. gun culture, revealing the appeal of the AR-15, the havoc it wreaks, and the politics of reducing its toll.