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zare_i's review against another edition
5.0
This was unexpectedly good book. Author manages to describe very vividly how unknown manufacturer of knives from Austria managed to create a high quality firearm that will change the small arms market forever.
Whatever people think of it, Glock was, is, and remains an excellent firearm. It took competition almost two decades to start creating copies so they can join the market. By the very definition it is dangerous but book clearly shows (no matter how anti gun people feel about it) that all issues come from training of users. Crime elements will always find their way to guns and any drastic legislation will only worsen things for ordinary people that want to protect themselves (recent anti-police etc movements are just throwing oil on fire and inspiring people on the other side of political spectrum to keep on arming, and cycle just repeats itself).
Book starts with the event that raised the demand for semi-automatic pistols, Miami shootout where, due to serious lack of organization, law enforcement suffered great losses in shootout with heavily armed criminals. Deciding that what they need is more firepower, US law enforcement agencies basically opened the door to Glock, and once opportunity was taken, Glock Inc never let it out of its hand.
Of course with the huge sales and money, lots of criminal activities started to pop up within Glock Inc, embezzlements and outright money theft. All of this coupled with the Glock Inc founder, very eccentric Gaston Glock and his family are the center pieces of this book. Author talks about the gun and reviews and experiences of some of the best international shooters (Glock had its drawbacks but still proved to be more reliable than the competitors) but gun is not at the forefront, it is always in the background while its effects on gun market and US society (as the largest market for small arms in the world) are what takes the scene.
Author touches on political decisions related to gun control, and even attempts to abolish personal gun ownership, and notes how dramatic and hysterical statements by activists (very like zealots that preached in a dramatic and hysterical way things very recently) basically undermined their own efforts. Once more history teaches that overly emotional approach to anything will backfire. Instead of relying on actual data and statistics that could prove useful to control the level of citizen armories, they fed emotional nonsense to their opposition, NRA. Insisting on the most known weapon manufacturers, picture got so warped that Glock was mentioned everywhere while in reality, due to price, it was almost not present on any listings of confiscated criminal's weapons. Also stunts with proving Glock is hazard for air transportation horribly backfired when it was found out that pistol was not more invisible to scanners than other models made in standard way (using more metal than polymer) and that findings are exaggerated. This just created more advertisement for the guns in general, Glock in particular.
I have to say that projects with refurbishing old handguns was something unexpected, but it does make sense. Guns treated as just another technical tool, same as old cars or electronic devices. I still think that cities and counties should have opted for destruction of old firearms but I guess that there is no money to be made in this approach.
In parallel with story about gun market and sales, we are presented how Gaston Glock accumulated immense wealth, crisis his family went through and how he (Gaston Glock) ruthlessly destroyed each and every opponent (perceived or real). This part of book reads like it was ripped from Dynasty or Dallas tv shows.
Excellent book presenting how appearance of unexpectedly very high performance firearm changed the industry.
Highly recommended.
Whatever people think of it, Glock was, is, and remains an excellent firearm. It took competition almost two decades to start creating copies so they can join the market. By the very definition it is dangerous but book clearly shows (no matter how anti gun people feel about it) that all issues come from training of users. Crime elements will always find their way to guns and any drastic legislation will only worsen things for ordinary people that want to protect themselves (recent anti-police etc movements are just throwing oil on fire and inspiring people on the other side of political spectrum to keep on arming, and cycle just repeats itself).
Book starts with the event that raised the demand for semi-automatic pistols, Miami shootout where, due to serious lack of organization, law enforcement suffered great losses in shootout with heavily armed criminals. Deciding that what they need is more firepower, US law enforcement agencies basically opened the door to Glock, and once opportunity was taken, Glock Inc never let it out of its hand.
Of course with the huge sales and money, lots of criminal activities started to pop up within Glock Inc, embezzlements and outright money theft. All of this coupled with the Glock Inc founder, very eccentric Gaston Glock and his family are the center pieces of this book. Author talks about the gun and reviews and experiences of some of the best international shooters (Glock had its drawbacks but still proved to be more reliable than the competitors) but gun is not at the forefront, it is always in the background while its effects on gun market and US society (as the largest market for small arms in the world) are what takes the scene.
Author touches on political decisions related to gun control, and even attempts to abolish personal gun ownership, and notes how dramatic and hysterical statements by activists (very like zealots that preached in a dramatic and hysterical way things very recently) basically undermined their own efforts. Once more history teaches that overly emotional approach to anything will backfire. Instead of relying on actual data and statistics that could prove useful to control the level of citizen armories, they fed emotional nonsense to their opposition, NRA. Insisting on the most known weapon manufacturers, picture got so warped that Glock was mentioned everywhere while in reality, due to price, it was almost not present on any listings of confiscated criminal's weapons. Also stunts with proving Glock is hazard for air transportation horribly backfired when it was found out that pistol was not more invisible to scanners than other models made in standard way (using more metal than polymer) and that findings are exaggerated. This just created more advertisement for the guns in general, Glock in particular.
I have to say that projects with refurbishing old handguns was something unexpected, but it does make sense. Guns treated as just another technical tool, same as old cars or electronic devices. I still think that cities and counties should have opted for destruction of old firearms but I guess that there is no money to be made in this approach.
In parallel with story about gun market and sales, we are presented how Gaston Glock accumulated immense wealth, crisis his family went through and how he (Gaston Glock) ruthlessly destroyed each and every opponent (perceived or real). This part of book reads like it was ripped from Dynasty or Dallas tv shows.
Excellent book presenting how appearance of unexpectedly very high performance firearm changed the industry.
Highly recommended.
papidoc's review against another edition
5.0
Fascinating in-depth study of the rise of the Glock firearm manufacturing organization...and of the people behind it's successes. Reading it, what occurred to me more than once was that despite the simplicity and utility of Glock handguns, the company has succeeded in spite of Gaston Glock, not because of him. As much as anything, his life is an example of what can happen to a person who gains great wealth without the underlying values that would direct the power that comes with wealth.
I've never owned a Glock handgun, mostly because they don't fit my hand very well, but they are so ubiquitous in the world of firearms, that I thought it would be interesting to learn more about the company and it's rise to dominance. It was interesting, but mostly in the way that a multiple car crash is interesting. I kept wondering if the difficulties brought about by corrupt and venal leaders would ever end. They didn't, and don't seem to have stopped in the years since the book's publication.
I've never owned a Glock handgun, mostly because they don't fit my hand very well, but they are so ubiquitous in the world of firearms, that I thought it would be interesting to learn more about the company and it's rise to dominance. It was interesting, but mostly in the way that a multiple car crash is interesting. I kept wondering if the difficulties brought about by corrupt and venal leaders would ever end. They didn't, and don't seem to have stopped in the years since the book's publication.
stitching_ghost's review against another edition
4.0
I'll be the first to admit I don't know nearly enough about guns to vouch for the technical aspects of this book when it pertains to them so I won't speak to the exactitude of that part.
What I can say about this book is that it is a very informative, if a little dense, and well researched piece of corporate history with a dash of political history (and yes guns). It was an interesting account of how Glock came to enjoy the reputation it has, the book is neither a love letter to Glock (the company) nor is it an indictment of it but it approaches pretty much everyone it talks about with great humanity.
What I can say about this book is that it is a very informative, if a little dense, and well researched piece of corporate history with a dash of political history (and yes guns). It was an interesting account of how Glock came to enjoy the reputation it has, the book is neither a love letter to Glock (the company) nor is it an indictment of it but it approaches pretty much everyone it talks about with great humanity.
brockboland's review against another edition
4.0
I found this story really interesting. The author repeated himself a couple of times in weird ways, but aside from that, it was well-written and engaging. I didn't hold the NRA in high regard before, but hearing a bit about how they butted heads with Glock certainly didn't help.
collegecate's review against another edition
2.0
Does not paint a favorable impression of Glock executives or gun advocates
mattsupportsagi's review against another edition
4.0
The modern world's most popular pistol was invented by a man who knew nothing about firearms. A great story of an outsider who disrupted an industry.
caitlinxmartin's review against another edition
1.0
often like this sort of thing, but for some reason this book didn't work for me. There was something vaguely dry and academic about the writing that didn't appeal - the musty scent of mothballs mixed with Great Great Aunt Twyla's lavendar sachets (poor thing, she never did find a husband).
grep's review against another edition
5.0
Wow, what an unexpectedly enthralling read. I did expect to get some enjoyment out of this one, but this went above and beyond.
A history of the iconic eponymous handgun, Glock tells the story of a clever Austrian engineer and factory worker who, by being in the right places at the right times with a unique frame of mind, secured a government contract to supply a handgun to the Austrian military, edging out established industry players like Beretta, SIG Sauer, Heckler&Koch, FN Herstal, and Austria's own Steyr -- without any prior firearm knowledge. Glock offered a completely fresh implementation on the decades-old concept of the semiautomatic pistol and achieved near perfection the first time around -- as did the Barrett M82 later on (at least I think it was the M82. Don't quote me on that.)
The book explores not only Glock the man, but also Glock GmbH and Glock, Inc., his Austrian and American companies, respectively. It does an extraordinary job of highlighting the good, the bad, as well as the ugly. With his retinue of savvy partners, Gaston Glock moved his "Plastic Perfection" to the USA, the Land of the Firearm, at precisely the right time to dethrone deep-rooted, American-blooded companies like Colt and Smith&Wesson.
Glock admits he knew little to nothing about "the Americans", so his expansion can be largely attributed to timing; nevertheless, he absolutely pioneered and cornered the American handgun market. Just as the FBI, in the wake of its deadliest shootout, was reconsidering the standard-issue six-shot .38 and .40 S&W revolvers -- Glock showed up with an ergonomically perfect, compact, and maneuverable semiautomatic with an astounding 17-round magazine capacity.
With the help of some partners more intimately acquainted with gun culture in America, Glock employed brilliant sales tactics and business models to entrench his pistol in the US. Focusing on law enforcement and military, all Glock had to do was put his pistol in the hands of the top brass - and the pistol sold itself. Add to that huge-scale trade-in and gun-replacement programmes to police nationwide, and soon LE all across America was patrolling with a Glock on the hip.
(An interesting point here, which makes a fair bit of sense but which I had also never considered, is that by offering to replace entire police forces' outdated and/or inferior handgun arsenals with new Glocks and offsetting the cost by reselling to wholesalers who would turn around and resell on the civilian market, Glock indirectly caused a giant surge of ex-police revolvers and pistols to hit the streets of America.)
There is a lot I learned through this book about American gun culture and tradition. Of note: police and federal agents were issued revolvers until Glock came along in the '80s and changed the dynamic over a decade or so. That's insane to me. Semiautomatic pistols have been around since the year 1900, at least. It would seem a no-brainer to issue high-caliber semiautos to absolutely everyone; yet it took an Austrian radiator-maker and his plastic pistol to change the game. The author attributes this overwhelming prevalence of the revolver to Colt and S&W's brilliant marketing, which Glock turned around just as readily as Sam Colt implemented in the first place.
Another point, as a consequence of the above, is that officers were at first weary and unaccustomed to this strange, light, low-caliber pistol with no external safety mechanism. Even highly trained veteran officers would see higher cases of negligent/accidental discharge with the Glock. Every Glock, starting with the first Glock 17 (so named as it was Gaston Glock's 17th patent), has a trigger safety, and it is all but common sense nowadays to 'keep your booger-hook off the bang-switch'. Turns out, that was not gospel even as recently as the 1995(!!!). "The FBI [...] instructed recruits to keep their index finger on the trigger of their handgun anytime they had it drawn. The idea was that the agent should be ready to shoot. Of course, it was safer to rest your finger on a revolver trigger that provided twelve pounds of resistance..." That baffled me when I read it, but again, it makes sense when you think about it, I guess.
Asides aside, this book covers the journey of Glock the man and Glock the company, mainly focusing on the American markets. It delves into the personal lives of many involved, the various legislative battles fought against gun-control proponents, and intracompany scandals. It paints the picture of a once-humble man who let his success get to his head, at the same time having been taken advantage of by the very people he trusted implicitly. From his rise to his demise, Gaston Glock's journey was truly extraordinary. (The man is still alive, but enjoys nowhere near the amount of glory he once did; his company, on the other hand, continues to thrive.)
All in all, if you're thinking, "should I give this book a go?" my answer is a resounding yes. I went in prepared for a hyperfactual, no-nonsense history of Glock, something like The Gun by CJ Chivers was to the AK-47. Instead I got technical details, action, intrigue, corporate betrayal, and a deep look at America's firearms culture. So yes, definitely give it a go.
A history of the iconic eponymous handgun, Glock tells the story of a clever Austrian engineer and factory worker who, by being in the right places at the right times with a unique frame of mind, secured a government contract to supply a handgun to the Austrian military, edging out established industry players like Beretta, SIG Sauer, Heckler&Koch, FN Herstal, and Austria's own Steyr -- without any prior firearm knowledge. Glock offered a completely fresh implementation on the decades-old concept of the semiautomatic pistol and achieved near perfection the first time around -- as did the Barrett M82 later on (at least I think it was the M82. Don't quote me on that.)
The book explores not only Glock the man, but also Glock GmbH and Glock, Inc., his Austrian and American companies, respectively. It does an extraordinary job of highlighting the good, the bad, as well as the ugly. With his retinue of savvy partners, Gaston Glock moved his "Plastic Perfection" to the USA, the Land of the Firearm, at precisely the right time to dethrone deep-rooted, American-blooded companies like Colt and Smith&Wesson.
Glock admits he knew little to nothing about "the Americans", so his expansion can be largely attributed to timing; nevertheless, he absolutely pioneered and cornered the American handgun market. Just as the FBI, in the wake of its deadliest shootout, was reconsidering the standard-issue six-shot .38 and .40 S&W revolvers -- Glock showed up with an ergonomically perfect, compact, and maneuverable semiautomatic with an astounding 17-round magazine capacity.
With the help of some partners more intimately acquainted with gun culture in America, Glock employed brilliant sales tactics and business models to entrench his pistol in the US. Focusing on law enforcement and military, all Glock had to do was put his pistol in the hands of the top brass - and the pistol sold itself. Add to that huge-scale trade-in and gun-replacement programmes to police nationwide, and soon LE all across America was patrolling with a Glock on the hip.
(An interesting point here, which makes a fair bit of sense but which I had also never considered, is that by offering to replace entire police forces' outdated and/or inferior handgun arsenals with new Glocks and offsetting the cost by reselling to wholesalers who would turn around and resell on the civilian market, Glock indirectly caused a giant surge of ex-police revolvers and pistols to hit the streets of America.)
There is a lot I learned through this book about American gun culture and tradition. Of note: police and federal agents were issued revolvers until Glock came along in the '80s and changed the dynamic over a decade or so. That's insane to me. Semiautomatic pistols have been around since the year 1900, at least. It would seem a no-brainer to issue high-caliber semiautos to absolutely everyone; yet it took an Austrian radiator-maker and his plastic pistol to change the game. The author attributes this overwhelming prevalence of the revolver to Colt and S&W's brilliant marketing, which Glock turned around just as readily as Sam Colt implemented in the first place.
Another point, as a consequence of the above, is that officers were at first weary and unaccustomed to this strange, light, low-caliber pistol with no external safety mechanism. Even highly trained veteran officers would see higher cases of negligent/accidental discharge with the Glock. Every Glock, starting with the first Glock 17 (so named as it was Gaston Glock's 17th patent), has a trigger safety, and it is all but common sense nowadays to 'keep your booger-hook off the bang-switch'. Turns out, that was not gospel even as recently as the 1995(!!!). "The FBI [...] instructed recruits to keep their index finger on the trigger of their handgun anytime they had it drawn. The idea was that the agent should be ready to shoot. Of course, it was safer to rest your finger on a revolver trigger that provided twelve pounds of resistance..." That baffled me when I read it, but again, it makes sense when you think about it, I guess.
Asides aside, this book covers the journey of Glock the man and Glock the company, mainly focusing on the American markets. It delves into the personal lives of many involved, the various legislative battles fought against gun-control proponents, and intracompany scandals. It paints the picture of a once-humble man who let his success get to his head, at the same time having been taken advantage of by the very people he trusted implicitly. From his rise to his demise, Gaston Glock's journey was truly extraordinary. (The man is still alive, but enjoys nowhere near the amount of glory he once did; his company, on the other hand, continues to thrive.)
All in all, if you're thinking, "should I give this book a go?" my answer is a resounding yes. I went in prepared for a hyperfactual, no-nonsense history of Glock, something like The Gun by CJ Chivers was to the AK-47. Instead I got technical details, action, intrigue, corporate betrayal, and a deep look at America's firearms culture. So yes, definitely give it a go.
cwebb's review against another edition
4.0
fascinating stuff
http://www.weberseite.at/buecher/glock-the-rise-of-americas-gun/
http://www.weberseite.at/buecher/glock-the-rise-of-americas-gun/