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Narrated by Frank Smyth
Frank SmythUnabridged — 8 hours, 20 minutes
Narrated by Frank Smyth
Frank SmythUnabridged — 8 hours, 20 minutes
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For the first time, the definitive account of America's most powerful, most secretive, and most controversial nonprofit, and how far it has strayed from its origins.
The National Rifle Association is unique in American life. Few other civic organizations are as old or as large. None is as controversial. It is largely due to the NRA that the U.S. gun policy differs so extremely - some would say so tragically - from that of every other developed nation. But, as Frank Smyth shows, the NRA has evolved from an organization concerned above all with marksmanship - and which supported most government efforts around gun control for a hundred years - to one that resists all attempts to restrict guns in any way. At the same time, the organization has also buried its own remarkable history.
Here is that story, from the NRA's surprising roots in post-Civil War New York City to the defining event that changed its culture forever - the so called “Cincinnati Revolt” of 1977 - to the present day, where President Donald Trump is the most ardent champion in the White House the NRA has ever had. For anyone who has looked at access to guns in our society and asked “Why?”, this is an unmatched account of how we got here, and who got us here.
A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books
"The N.R.A. began as a Reconstruction-era organization “with the mission to improve military preparedness in anticipation of future wars,” Smyth says. Its evolution after that - into a gentlemen's hunting club with an unexpected affinity for wildlife conservation, until Second Amendment absolutists seized power in the 1970s - is ably traced by the author, who narrates the audio version of his book in no-nonsense tones." - The New York Times
"This is the book for anyone who has ever wondered why the United States is incapable of even minor regulation of firearms, despite alarming levels of gun violence and consistent, broad public support for it. Frank Smyth has delivered a clearly-written, diligently-researched, and level-headed answer. He documents how the NRA, once primarily a sporting group that advocated sensible gun controls, has buried its past, rewritten history, and transformed itself into an enormously influential right-wing force that has elevated gun fetishism into a political ideology that, for many, borders on religion."- Mark Bowden, journalist and author of Black Hawk Down and Killing Pablo
The long and complicated history of the powerful gun rights organization known as the National Rifle Association merits a serious examination by an author not handpicked by the group to tell its story. The journalist and gun enthusiast Frank Smyth has nominated himself for the task. The result, The N.R.A.: The Unauthorized History, is an earnest and refreshingly even-tempered…account of the most feared lobbying force in America.
03/30/2020
Journalist Smyth debuts with a balanced and accessible history of the National Rifle Association. Both a gun owner and a supporter of gun control measures, Smyth critiques the modern NRA’s “absolutist” stances against gun control, but is primarily interested in tracing the organization’s evolution from a Reconstruction-era group in New York City interested in militia preparedness to its early-20th-century emergence as a national organization focused on educating sportsmen about marksmanship and gun safety. Smyth reveals that the NRA had a long history of supporting state and federal gun control measures, including those aimed at limiting access to firearms for convicted felons, people connected to organized crime, and political radicals. Beginning in the late 1960s, however, the NRA started delving into partisan politics, increasingly aligning itself with the Republican Party. Smyth points to the organization’s 1977 annual meeting in Cincinnati, when strident anti–gun control activists Harlon Carter and Neal Knox orchestrated a series of votes that installed Carter in the top leadership post, as the first step in the remaking of the NRA into a well-funded lobbying organization with the political clout to weather public outrage over Columbine, Sandy Hook, and other mass shootings. Smyth chronicles the NRA’s internal debates with painstaking detail, though the organization’s secrecy prevents jaw-dropping revelations. Readers tired of partisanship on both sides of the gun control debate will appreciate this straightforward overview. (Mar.)
"Frank Smyth's surprising and eye-opening history reveals how the NRA, which once supported reasonable gun safety laws, became an extreme, no-compromises warrior for the Second Amendment and transformed America. This is a must-read for anyone interested in guns, American politics, or the daily tragedy of gun violence." —Adam Winkler, author of Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America
"This is the book for anyone who has ever wondered why the United States is incapable of even minor regulation of firearms, despite alarming levels of gun violence and consistent, broad public support for it. Frank Smyth has delivered a clearly-written, diligently-researched, and level-headed answer. He documents how the NRA, once primarily a sporting group that advocated sensible gun controls, has buried its past, rewritten history, and transformed itself into an enormously influential right-wing force that has elevated gun fetishism into a political ideology that, for many, borders on religion." —Mark Bowden, journalist and author of Black Hawk Down and Killing Pablo
"Lucid and riveting, Frank Smyth's The NRA tracks the NRA back to the 1870s, when its civic-minded founders promoted rifle practice, shooting matches, and gun safety. Always compelling and full of surprises!" —Nancy Woloch, author of Women and the American Experience and co-author of The American Century: A History of the United States since the 1890s
"'From my cold, dead hands...' exclaimed Charlton Heston, aka Ben-Hur, at the 2000 NRA convention. As he hoisted skyward that old Minute Man-looking rifle replica, one's neck hairs bristled either way: instant revulsion at the exultation over guns that killed tens of thousands of Americans every year; or euphoria at the blatant challenge to those who wanted to do something to prevent those deaths. For me, it was a watershed moment. I was a military professional, a gun owner, and a hunter, but from that moment I would have nothing to do with the NRA. My decision was intuitive. Today, I believe my intuition was correct. To understand why, read Frank Smyth's book, The NRA: The Unauthorized History." —Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, USA (Ret), former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell and Visiting Professor of Government and Public Policy at the College of William and Mary
"An important new book... a worthwhile intervention... Smyth documents the NRA’s early years, rich in paradox and incident, with verve... As a seasoned investigative journalist, Smyth... skillfully exposes how NRA funds have been used to prop up ersatz advocacy groups and think tanks... The NRA is a must-read for these sections alone." —Bookforum
"A measured, scrupulously researched political history that shows how the NRA has evolved... Smyth avoids quoting anonymous sources, drawing on well-documented material and staying neutral (and above accusations of bias) on controversies. Authoritative... A fair and balanced portrait of one of America’s most controversial organizations." —Kirkus
"A balanced and accessible history of the National Rifle Association... Smyth chronicles the NRA’s internal debates with painstaking detail... Readers tired of partisanship on both sides of the gun control debate will appreciate this straightforward overview." —Publishers Weekly
"An excellent new book about how the NRA went from [a] sporting and teaching society...to the universal huckster of gun sales and the most powerful resister of gun law." —Here & There with Dave Marash
"Journalist Frank Smyth traces the evolution of the group from a training organization to one of the most powerful, and polarizing, political lobbying groups in America." —Vox
04/10/2020
Journalist Smyth debuts with a balanced history of the National Rifle Association (NRA), staring with its founding by former soldiers George Wood Wingate and William Conant Church after the Civil War as an organization dedicated to marksmanship. Smyth shows how the association was initially supportive of gun control, rifle training, and conservation up until the 1970s, until pivotal movements—including the "Cincinnati Revolt" of 1977 along with gun advocate (and convicted murderer) Harlon Carter assuming leadership of the association—led to its rapid transformation into a politically conservative, Republican-controlled lobbying organization. Notably, Smyth describes how the NRA developed enough political clout to counter popular gun control laws and deflect public outrage after mass shootings. He also covers the tenures of NRA leaders such as Marion Hammer, the first woman to hold the position of NRA president, and CEO Wayne LaPierre. The author, a gun owner and a supporter of gun control, thoroughly documents the NRA's internal debates, tortuous efforts to rewrite its public image and history, and recent efforts to recruit celebrity advocates. VERDICT The book is meticulously detailed, sometimes overly so, including investigations into the NRA's internal debates and parliamentary process. Still, libraries looking for a nonpartisan history of the organization will be well-served.—Edwin Burgess, Kansas City, KS
2020-03-19
A gun-owning investigative journalist’s history of the National Rifle Association.
Smyth admits he’s a “Fudd,” a derisive NRA term for a gun owner who supports gun regulations. As befits that nuanced stance, the author offers a measured, scrupulously researched political history that shows how the NRA has evolved from an organization promoting rifle marksmanship to an unrelenting foe of all limits on guns. Smyth blends a great-man approach to history with an instinct for following money trails, telling the story of the NRA largely through its leaders and how their financial or other decisions shaped the group and the nation. First came founders George Wood Wingate and William Conant Church, former Union officers who, dismayed by “the appalling lack of marksmanship on both sides in the Civil War,” started the group during Reconstruction. The 20th century brought presidents like Harlon B. Carter, a convicted murderer whose conviction was overturned on appeal; and Marion Hammer, the first female president, who, after the 1992 Rodney King riots, wrote an article called “You loot—we shoot” for NRA publication American Rifleman. The current leader, Wayne LaPierre, has recruited celebrities like Charlton Heston and turned the group into a deep-pocketed political titan that gave $54.4 million to candidates in the 2016 elections. After the Columbine massacre in 1999, the NRA developed “a playbook” for responding to demands for gun controls, which included tactics such as: “Deflect by saying this is not a time to discuss politics but a time to mourn.” Many such unsavory details will be maddening to gun rights absolutists, but Smyth avoids quoting anonymous sources, drawing on well-documented material and staying neutral (and above accusations of bias) on controversies. The result is an authoritative, no-frills story, long on solid information but short on the color and passion that might have made it sing.
A fair and balanced portrait of one of America’s most controversial organizations. (first printing of 200,000) (Adult, nonfiction, history, political history, organizations, National Rifle Association)
| BN ID: | 2940173921802 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Macmillan Audio |
| Publication date: | 03/31/2020 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
