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  • Published: 4 June 2019
  • ISBN: 9781523085996
  • Imprint: Berrett-Koehler
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 192
  • RRP: $32.99

The Hidden History of Guns and the Second Amendment




"In this precise primer on firearms practices and policies, progressive talk-show host Hartmann examines the history of routine gun usage and extreme gun violence and assesses the influence of gun ownership on contemporary political, economic, and social norms...A brief but powerful analysis of a searing national crisis." --Booklist

The New York Times–bestselling author explores the real history of guns in America and how to limit both their lethal impact and the gun lobby’s power.

Taking his typically in-depth, historically informed view, Thom Hartmann, the most popular progressive radio host in America, examines the brutal role guns have played in American history, from the genocide of the Native Americans to the enforcement of slavery (Slave Patrols are in fact the Second Amendment’s “well-regulated militias”) and the racist post–Civil War social order. He shows how the NRA and conservative Supreme Court justices used specious logic to invent a virtually unlimited individual right to own guns, which has enabled the ever-growing number of mass shootings in the United States. But Hartmann also identifies a handful of powerful, commonsense solutions that would break the power of the gun lobby and restore the understanding of the Second Amendment that the Framers of the Constitution intended. This is the kind of brief, brilliant analysis for which Hartmann is justly renowned.

Praise for The Hidden History of Guns and the Second Amendment

“In this precise primer on firearms practices and policies, progressive talk-show host Hartmann examines the history of routine gun usage and extreme gun violence and assesses the influence of gun ownership on contemporary political, economic, and social norms…. A brief but powerful analysis of a searing national crisis.” —Booklist

“34,000 REASONS TO READ THIS BOOK: That’s the number of gun-related deaths annually in America.” —Norman Lear

“When Thom Hartmann talks, I listen. What Thom Hartmann writes, I read. This book about the history of guns in America—and most importantly, what should be the future of guns in America—is important, mind-opening, and profoundly helpful.” —Marianne Williamson

  • Published: 4 June 2019
  • ISBN: 9781523085996
  • Imprint: Berrett-Koehler
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 192
  • RRP: $32.99

About the author

Thom Hartmann

Thom Hartmann is a four‐time winner of the Project Censored Award, a New York Times bestselling author of over thirty books, and America’s #1 progressive talk radio show host for more than a decade. His show is carried on SiriusXM and radio stations nationwide and simulcast as television on Free Speech TV.

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Praise for The Hidden History of Guns and the Second Amendment

Praise for The Crash of 2016
"Never one to shy away from the truth . . . inspiring, wise, and compelling. His work lights the way to a better America."
-Van Jones

Praise for Unequal Protection
"If you wonder why and when giant corporations got the power to reign supreme over us, here's the story."
--Jim Hightower, national radio commentator and author of Swim Against the Current

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