Cameron McWhirter and Zusha Elinson trace the history of the AR-15 in their new book, American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15 to explore how the same gun came to represent freedom to millions of Americans and evil to millions of others.
The authors look at technology, business, and politics as well as the terrible crime scenes from a variety of perspectives — from witnesses, doctors, and victims, to the killers themselves. McWhirter and Elinson offer their unique perspective and matchless insight into where the gun debate is today and what can be done about it.
Writing with fairness and compassion, the authors explore America’s gun culture, revealing the deep appeal of the AR-15, the awful havoc it wreaks, and the politics of trying to protect Americans from mass shootings. The result is a moral history of contemporary America’s love affair with technology, freedom, and weaponry. This is an essential and extraordinary story and no one’s told it before. As Kirkus Reviews notes in their starred review of American Gun, it is a “riveting exploration of the cost of the nation’s fascination with an iconic weapon.”
Benjamin Busch is a writer, photographer, filmmaker, actor, journalist, and illustrator. After completing a studio art degree from Vassar College, he served for 16 years as a Marine Corps infantry and light armored reconnaissance officer, deploying twice to Iraq. He’s the writer/director of the films BRIGHT and Sympathetic Details, and appeared on HBO’s The Wire, and Generation Kill. He’s the author of the memoir Dust to Dust (Ecco) and has published essays in Harper’s, The New York Times Magazine, Guernica, NPR, and Best American Travel Writing. His poetry has appeared in North American Review, Prairie Schooner, Five Points, Epiphany, and Nimrod among others. He’s just back from Ukraine as a feature photographer for Esquire.
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