Glock: The Rise of America's Gun [Hardcover]

Paul M. Barrett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 10, 2012

Based on fifteen years of research, Glock is the riveting story of the weapon that has become known as American’s gun.  Today the Glock pistol has been embraced by two-thirds of all U.S. police departments, glamorized in countless Hollywood movies, and featured as a ubiquitous presence on prime-time TV. It has been rhapsodized by hip-hop artists, and coveted by cops and crooks alike. 
 
Created in 1982 by Gaston Glock, an obscure Austrian curtain-rod manufacturer, and swiftly adopted by the Austrian army, the Glock pistol, with its lightweight plastic frame and large-capacity spring-action magazine, arrived in America at a fortuitous time.  Law enforcement agencies had concluded that their agents and officers, armed with standard six-round revolvers, were getting "outgunned" by drug dealers with semi-automatic pistols. They needed a new gun.
 
When Karl Water, a firearm salesman based in the U.S. first saw a Glock in 1984, his reaction was, “Jeez, that’s ugly.” But the advantages of the pistol soon became apparent. The standard semi-automatic Glock could fire as many as 17 bullets from its magazine without reloading (one equipped with an extended thirty-three cartridge magazine was used in Tucson to shoot Gabrielle Giffords and 19 others). It was built with only 36 parts that were interchangeable with those of other models. You could drop it underwater, toss it from a helicopter, or leave it out in the snow, and it would still fire. It was reliable, accurate, lightweight, and cheaper to produce than Smith and Wesson’s revolver. Made in part of hardened plastic, it was even rumored (incorrectly) to be invisible to airport security screening.
 
Filled with corporate intrigue, political maneuvering, Hollywood glitz, bloody shoot-outs—and an attempt on Gaston Glock’s life by a former lieutenant—Glock is at once the inside account of how Glock the company went about marketing its pistol to police agencies and later the public, as well as a compelling chronicle of the evolution of gun culture in America.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“This book—from a top-notch reporter—will enlighten you about both gun culture and business culture. It’s fascinating, even-handed, and packs considerable punch!” —Bill McKibben, bestselling author of The End of Nature, Deep Economy, and The Age of Missing Information
 
“Glock is a riveting tale with masterful pacing and meticulous research. Paul Barrett knows his subject intimately, and it shows. . . . It’s a must-read for anyone with an interest in handguns or the firearm industry or even American pop culture.” —Cameron Hopkins, editor in chief, Combat Tactics magazine; American Rifleman’s Industry Insider blog

“With his customary insight and crystal-clear style, Paul Barrett has told the story of how a simple toolmaker from Austria came to be the dominant force in the manufacture and sale of pistols in the United States. . . . Glock is not at all just for the gun enthusiast. This book is for anyone concerned about the level of gun violence in America, and that should be all of us.”
—Richard Aborn, president, Citizens Crime Commission of New York City; former president, Handgun Control, Inc.
 
“Glock is a great read. Very informative from both a technical and historical standpoint—warts and all.” —Frank A. DiNuzzo, chief firearms instructor, New York State Police (ret.); chief instructor, Glock, Inc. (ret.)
 
“Paul Barrett’s Glock is a fascinating and bizarre tale of an entrepreneur, a weapon, and a nation’s love affair with guns.” —Jeffrey Toobin, staff writer, The New Yorker; author of The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court
 
“Colt, Smith & Wesson, Winchester, Remington: These were the American firearms industry’s major players for 150 years. In the 1980s they were joined by a foreign upstart, Glock, which soon overtook them all. Paul M. Barrett ably investigates Glock’s seemingly inexorable rise to power, profit, and predominance in this riveting story of how a plastic Austrian pistol...transformed into America’s chosen gun.” —Alexander Rose, author of American Rifle: A Biography
 
 “It’s a story that pulls back the curtain on a secretive company that was apparently willing to do whatever it took to be successful. And it’s a heckuva good read.” —Jim Shepherd, The Outdoor Wire

 
"Barrett is right on target, delivering a well-oiled, fact-packed, and fast-paced history of the Glock."¯Publishers Weekly

“Offering huge discounts and shrewdly marketing to police from its facility in Smyrna, Ga., [Glock] employed Gold Club strippers and Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders to attract crowds, entertain clients and lend the pistol a sexy cachet that grew exponentially when it popped up all over TV and movies as the gun of choice for cops and killers alike. . . A colorful case study of the manufacturer who beat long-entrenched, legendary brands at their own game.” ¯Kirkus 

“An informative, frequently surprising account of the evolution of America’s gun culture and the gun that helped define it.” ¯Booklist

"How a pistol developed by an unknown engineer with little firearms experience became the dominant, if not iconic, law enforcement handgun in the United States. . ."--The Washington Post

"Gun enthusiasts and gun detractors will almost surely read the saga of Glock, told expertly by journalist Paul M. Barrett, with divergent views...His authoritative voice permeates the nonfiction narrative. His own views about Glock and other weapons merchants are not easy to decipher, which is perhaps one of his book’s many strengths."--Dallas Morning News

"An engaging history of the most famous handgun in contemporary America. Barrett..[has] impressive knowledge of criminal and weapons history in the United States, as well as of Glock's business practices."--The New York Times Book Review

"It's rare for a nonfiction book to read like a thriller, but that's what happens with "Glock." The book covers an intriguing and important topic, and it does so with panache and accuracy. Anyone interested in guns or gun control should read it."--The Washington Times

“With an almost breezy, extremely readable style journalist Paul Barrett has written the definitive biography of a gun that has become the standard for American firearms.”--Florida Times Union

“Smart and engrossing.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

“A compelling tale…a fascinating look at one man’s extraordinary success.”
—Wall Street Journal

“The sometimes shocking details about Glock…moves the reader from one anecdote to the next. . . . certain to fascinate audiences regardless of their thoughts on the Second Amendment.”
—Atlanta Journal-Constitution

About the Author

PAUL M. BARRETT is an assistant managing editor of Bloomberg Businessweek. He is the author of American Islam: The Struggle for the Soul of a Religion and The Good Black: A True Story of Race in America. Barrett lives and works in New York City. For more information, go to GlockTheBook.com.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Crown (January 10, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307719936
• ISBN-13: 978-0307719935
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.1 x 9.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,098 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #1 in Books > History > Military > Weapons & Warfare > Conventional
  • #4 in Books > History > Historical Study > Social History
  • #7 in Books > Business & Investing > Biography & History > Company Profiles

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

112 of 125 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars interesting story told by an indifferent author, December 28, 2011

By 

Alberto Vargas (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Glock: The Rise of America's Gun (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

The Glock is indeed a cultural phenomenon in America, and an innovative product (at least when it first appeared), with an interesting story behind it. So I was looking forward to reading this book. In some ways I was satisfied, but in others I ultimately disliked the book. My review is based on a pre-release sample of this book, so there is some chance that the published version is slightly modified, but I am sure that most of it will be the same. I hope you find this review useful.

In a nutshell, the author manages to capture the story of Glock - the company, the pistol, and the man behind it all. However, he also inserts a lot of commentary about guns in America which detracts from the story.

THE GOOD:

- You do not need any knowledge about Glock or firearms to read this book. The author describes in detail how revolvers and semi-autos work and how Glock is different.
- The book follows the major (and even lesser known) developments in the firearms market and legislation in the US throughout the history of Glock as a company. It starts with the 1986 Miami FBI shootout which precipitated the large-scale move away from revolvers towards semi-auto pistols. It covers things like the assault weapons ban and funny deals that Glock (the company) was involved in to try to buy back large capacity magazines and make a profit. Who knew that Rahm Emanuel, then a staffer in the White House and now mayor of Chicago, was involved in getting the major gun manufacturers to agree to voluntary safety locks?
- Gaston Glock and the people around him are well described with vivid vignettes. For example, how even after he was financially successful, he would apparently collect those little sample shampoos from hotels. Or how a hot stripper was used to promote the 10mm Glock.
- The author provides even handed treatment of most issues. For example, he admits that in the Miami shootout there was plenty of human error, and it wasn't simply about the good guys having inferior weapons. He admits that the Glock is not perfect and there have been numerous known malfunctions which the gun's aficionados turn a blind eye to, and the company itself tries to suppress through buying the defective units and silently settling cases out of court.
- Essentially Glock was in the right place at the right time, and this comes through really well in the book. Gaston Glock was a small-scale manufacturer of knives and simple household items when he overheard that the Austrian army was looking for a new pistol. Then there was plenty of controversy around the gun being undetectable by airport scanners (not true; turned out that employees manning the scanners were asleep once, and a Pentagon employee had an axe to grind), or sales to Arab dictators. Or NYC specifically banning the Glock, while the NYC police commissioner and firearms trainers flaunted the ban and carried the gun privately (until the press caught on). And lastly, the Glock was in many way similar to the revolvers it ended up replacing: simple and reliable, more so than its competitors.

THE SILLY:

- There are some non-sequitur statements like "Glock is the Google of modern civilian handguns" or mentioning how one police department wanted to upgrade their firepower so they went from .357 Magnum to 9mm.

THE UGLY:

- The author received some shooting lessons directly from Massad Ayoob, a well regarded shooting expert. In return, he makes Ayoob look silly for choosing to carry a weapon (never mind that Ayoob is a former police officer and minor celebrity who probably has good reasons to care about his safety). Referring to Ayoob and his girlfriend, the author sarcastically opines: "Like many gun owners who carry, they find last night's local television news report of an armed robbery at the neighborhood's 7-11 more compelling than the statistically small chance of being the unlucky customer paying for a Slurpee when a bad guy attacks."
- The author has some pervasive anti-gun bias that shows up even when he discusses facts and data which are inconclusive or contradict his opinion. The last chapter before the epilogue tries to discuss the impact of the Glock and handgun ownership on American society. When discussing the recent Virginia Tech massacre, the author says about the shooter: "Whether his choice of the Austrian brand raised the horrific body count remains a matter of speculation. It probably did." Later on he quips "A national ten-round cap seems like a logical compromise that lawful gun owners could easily tolerate." And then on the next page he admits that "The total number of guns in private hands in the United States is at an all-time high, yet violent crime is back down to where it was in the early 1970s. The murder rate is even lower - at the level of the early 1960s." Basically, he ends the book with a strange and contradictory chapter which tries to be an overarching synthesis of gun ownership in America, but ends up looking unfocused and bad.

VERDICT:

I wonder who this book was written for. The author works for Bloomberg and lives in New York City, where it is practically impossible to own a gun, and he clearly does not pretend he cares about guns. So maybe this book is for other big city yuppies who want to know about this Glock thing rappers sing about. For that audience, the book is great. However, for those who own a Glock (I do not, by the way): this may not be your book. The book is still valuable because of the investigative details it presents, but it is clear that the author is not very passionate about his subject.

There is plenty of interesting history in this book, especially about Gaston Glock and his company. I just wish the author had focused on that and avoided trying to analyze guns in America, a larger topic which is controversial and clearly beyond his grasp.

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fine complement to the other Glock books out there, December 21, 2011

By 

Car Guy "desertgrj" (Phoenix, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Glock: The Rise of America's Gun (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

A new book about Glock pistols is always welcome when so few are out there. This book is history, though, not a how-to manual on proper pistol use. It is business history, the most interesting kind of history. As the story of Glock moves from its native soil in Europe to the much larger and astoundingly lucrative North American market the book also becomes social history and of course, political history. This is its virtue: a true story about the little-company-that-could, standing up to the big boys (Beretta, Smith & Wesson, H&K) and striking pay dirt on its first effort in a strange, new market. This is the kind of story that does not get old, no matter how many times it is told. Being largely unaware of the very competitive gun industry I found the story of the curtain rod manufacturer who made a gun very interesting.

While a fan and an owner of several Glocks I was never quite clear on the company's history and struggles until this book. There is some anti-gun bias in this book, but I'll cut the author a break and acknowledge that he does have to cover all sides of the gun debate in the US. This matters less to me now than in the past. As gun ownership soars around the country (indeed, cross-state conceal carry is one the hottest topics in Washington right now) more and more law-abiding citizens see the benefit for themselves in owing and keeping arms near at hand. As a consequence the anti-gun left has less influence on Main Street or on the Hill than in the past.

Enjoy this book: learn about how a plastics maker in Bavaria came to dominate the handgun market in little less than a generation. It's a great story.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read It Twice and Listened to the Audio Version, January 20, 2012

By 

Mark "It's not about guns, It's about freedom" (South Bend, IN, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Glock: The Rise of America's Gun (Hardcover)

Yes I did read it twice and listen to the audio version. Mostly because we interviewed the author for the Gun Rights Radio Network. As a very pro-gun person, I found the book very enjoyable and would recommend it. Paul did get a lot of the technical things about guns correct in a way that a lot of New York, liberal, journalists do not.

But as a very pro-gun person there were obviously some things in there I don't agree with. But in general I think both sides of the gun debate will enjoy this book. Gives you a glimpse into the firearms industry and how Smith & Wesson lost out to a foreign company.