First Freedom: A Ride Through America's Enduring History with the Gun

by David Harsanyi

From one of America’s smartest political writers comes a “captivating and comprehensive journey” (#1 New York Times bestselling author David Limbaugh) of the United States’ unique and enduring relationship with guns.

For America, the gun is a story of innovation, power, violence, character, and freedom.

From the founding of the nation to the pioneering of the West, from the freeing of the slaves to the urbanization of the twentieth century, our country has had a complex and lasting relationship with firearms. In First Freedom , nationally syndicated columnist and veteran writer David Harsanyi explores the ways in which firearms have helped preserve our religious, economic, and cultural institutions for over two centuries. From Samuel Colt’s early entrepreneurism to the successful firearms technology that helped make the United States a superpower, the gun is inextricably tied to our exceptional rise.

In the vein of popular histories like American Gun , Salt , and Seabiscuit , Harsanyi takes us on a captivating and thrilling ride of Second Amendment history that demonstrates why guns are not only an integral part of America’s past, but also an essential part of its future. First Freedom is “a briskly paced journey…a welcome lesson on how guns and America have shaped each other for four hundred years” ( National Review ).

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction, American History, Audiobook, Philosophy, American

320 pages, Paperback

First published October 2, 2018

Reviews

[Brook · Rating 3 out of 5]

[Note: the Goodreads blurb is clearly written (wherever it first showed up) to appeal to more conservative readers, in the hopes of capturing that audience. This book does not fall along any sort of political extremist line. I have no doubt that pro-2A readers (of which I am one) will find it interesting, but it is a history that would be interesting to anyone who enjoys following changes in technology, as with flight, automobiles, or industrialization in general. I wish the blurb would be changed so that the book could find a wider readership, but I doubt that is to be. It is too bad that everything these days must be wrapped in an agenda to sell, instead of standing on its own merits.]

So I could write a more detailed review about the pacing and writing, but I think this review does a good job of summing up the book. It is not a deep dive, nor is it a web article. The author writes for conservative outlets, and the review blurbs come from other conservative writers, so I was a bit worried I was going to get into more of a Glenn Beck rant than history. There was a bit of political speech here and there, but we are talking about the history of the firearm in America, so a book that didn't have any of that must then either be a manual of arms or firearms blueprints.

I will stay away from political speech myself here, and echo what the above reviewer said: this book gives you a good deal, mostly at the superficial level, of information like Samuel Colt and John Moses Browning (dear god that guy's fingerprints are everywhere) to make you want to pick up books focused solely on those men. Of note, Mr. Harsanyi does an excellent job with citations, so if you actually leaf through to them as you read, you will probably find more that you wish to pick up. It was the excellent citations that really took this book from what I might have expected from more extreme authors on both ends of the political spectrum to something that was obviously well-researched by someone who was very interested in the subject. I wish that more histories would keep the "old tradition" of citing, especially when dealing with potentially controversial events.

The engineer in me loved tracing the evolution of a product through several centuries. We have just over a century with the modern automobile, and I can't get enough of learning how technologies have changed. Here is something that has been around for a thousand years, so think how much there is to learn.

It is both a congrats and a disappointment that the author did not go deeper into individual topics, but rather "skimmed" through them. I think the depth of this book is analogous to Astrophysics for People in a Hurry. It is going to give you the big story arc, while focusing on some of the big/interesting players (flintlocks as quarks?) but not going deep enough to give you a true understanding of the topic. As I said, this is both good and disappointing - I suppose it is a good disappointment, because you wish the author did more. Overall, this is a compliment to the author.

As someone who had a basic working knowledge of the advancement of 20th century firearms, the usual players, the big advances were in there. You will get the 1911, the M2, the M16 and AK47, etc. But you also will learn, again at a superficial level, where those came from. I actually wish Mr. Harsanyi had gone a bit deeper into the engineering, to include schematics, but I don't think that was the goal of the author. This is a "pop" history of firearms, and it works.

The closest to what would be considered political is extremely well done, and the section deserves five stars. Harsanyi explains the impetus behind the big 20th century firearms legislation (1934, 1968, 1986, 1994), and does so in a passionate but accurate way. Again, I will withhold my own political viewpoints here. Just know that what is said is accurate.

That is not to say there are not viewpoints expressed that are outside the norm, or what is seen as PC today. Harsanyi notes that one of Colt's firearms was responsible for "taming" the West, which includes wholesale slaughter of Native Americans. Speaking dispassionately, it was indeed firearms that finished off the Native Americans and allowed European settlers to move west. However, while it is the sign of a successful invention (it was not invented for that purpose specifically, of course), it is of course not a success for the country.

If one can put aside the occasional talking point, what you have is a great skim-over of firearms history. I'll throw in one of the new tidbits to me: Harsanyi states that there were hundreds of independent gun makers before, during, and after the Revolution, copying European designs and, ultimately, improving upon them for the American natural environment. Seeing the Kentucky rifle in there, and learning more about it and the hundreds of "mom and pop" shops that made them, was very interesting.

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

I dare you to read this book. I learned 3 critical things that were fascinating.

1: I learned a lot about firearm innovation. The key inventions and ideas that allowed firearms to progress and become what they are today. While I knew some of the pieces of the puzzle; this book lays it out very clearly.

2: I learned in even greater detail how the firearm played a part of the success of the American Revolution both as a tool of delivery but also as a primary cause of the conflict to begin with. I already knew much about the powder alarms and the attempts to confiscate firearms from colonials but I learned a lot more about the inherent beliefs in the rights of self-defense that early Americans held.

3: I learned about how American Culture is gun culture and vice versa. The gun is interwoven in every part of our country's amazing history and culture and the right of self-defense is part of what makes our nation great. Our founders knew the right to keep and bear arms would be essential to ensure that right.

I dare you to read this.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a easy to read book full of great history on the development of firearms in general and American guns and shooters in particular. David Harsanyi is an outstanding story-teller. He keeps the reader engrossed in the narrative from the time French explorer Samuel de Champlain's first harquebus shot sails through a cotton and wood shield to mangle a tactically surprised Iroquois chieftain until Eugene Stoner (inventor of the AR-15) keels over in his garage tinkering with guns at the age of seventy-four, dying a wealthy and content man.

I really enjoyed this book. As a veteran who has lugged around, fired, and cleaned M-14s, M-16s, M-60s, and the M2 Machine Gun (this one I did not lug around) I am ashamed to confess that I had not taken a keen interest in the history behind these marvelous weapons. Until now I had just seen these as tools and nothing more.

Harsanyi brings to life the drama of the times that necessitated the evolution of various firearms, the ingenuity of the men who forged them and the courage of those who carried them to explore unknown territory or into battle.

He also answers questions I occasionally ask myself when considering the issue of gun control. Questions like "How come Sears and Wards were able to sell guns through their catalogs when I was a kid in the 50s and 60s without raising anyone's hackles?" or "Why was 'gun control' not a problem then, but it is now?"

Hint: Democrats and The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 . Check out Chapter 21; The Great Argument.

Finally, Harsanyi has whet my appetite for more information on American entrepreneurs such as Samuel Colt, John Browning, Hiram Maxim, Richard Gatling and Oliver Winchester. He has also renewed my interest in the Texas Rangers, Berdan's Sharpshooters, and Morgan's Riflemen.

If any of these names rings a bell with you, grab this book and start reading. You'll be glad you did.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good history lesson

The chances of a law abiding gun owner to break a law is so small yet are the ones always targeted by the gun grabbers. But what gun grabbers never want to discuss are things like the destruction of the family, proper education of gun ownership and most importantly GOD. Someone kills not because there is a gun available but because somewhere along the way their moral structure was abandoned.

[Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

A history with a slant on the "gun" as the central figure. Starting with ancient writings regarding the discovery and use of gun powder by the Chinese (led to the fire works industry) and other cultures then focusing on early American history of musket bearing blunderbusses of the Pilgrims, the revolutionary weapons and their role in America's battle for independence, the gun held a central place in the culture of the times. It was as much a part of the family as the plow. From the fur trappers and mountain men to the over-rated gunslingers of the west, the gun was as common place as the horse. The history continues through the settling of the west and the Indian wars, land feuds between cattle men and farmers, into and through the Civil War, the Spanish American War the gun and the inventors of gun technology were the real heroes of the times. The challenge was always to reload faster and have more bullets (balls) to fire in each reload. The transition to the multi-shot, quick load changed the gun and it's pivotal role in history through all the major wars. The author ends the saga with a brief but somewhat balanced presentation on the battle over gun-control and gun regulation.

The most noted quote in the book, "God made man, Sam Colt made all men equal."

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty informative read on the history of the gun from its early use as a more effective tool for hunting in America's then-virgin frontier.

While the author claims that this book isn't political, liberals and anti-gun activists likely will not enjoy it, as Harsanyi spends some time debunking the myths and revisionist history surrounding guns that have been propagated in the campaign for stricter gun laws, as well as pointing out the flaws and failures of the laws that have been attempted so far.

If anything, one can take away that guns, even when pointed toward other humans, have had a significant effect on American history, and it's not all bad. We'd be living in a very different America if we didn't have the 2nd Amendment.

[Fredric · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well written, if short, history of the development of firearms. In particular, Harsanyi points out the inescapable connection of American history to firearms. From the shots fired at Concord to forestall the British confiscation of colonial weapons, to the carnage of the Civil War, to the winning of the West, Americans and guns have gone together.

The author's central argument, that gun culture is only a part of the American culture, is convincingly presented.

[Bill Morgan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Most of this book is a tedious recounting of the activities of various inventors and manufacturers of firearms. In the hands of a more talented writer this information could be interesting but that is not the case here.
The important part of the book is an attempt to portray the “right to bear arms” as the most important freedom enjoyed by Americans. No doubt the author believes it to be so but he fails to make a persuasive case.

[Kristine · Rating 2 out of 5]

The history of the gun was interesting. The thesis that every attempt to limit gun ownership is an attack on the second amendment and American freedom was preachy in the extreme and made it seem like Harsanyi came to the writing of this book with a cleat agenda to make history fit his preconceived ideas

[Ron Ester · Rating 5 out of 5]

This should be required reading

Every firearm owner needs to read this book. "First Freedom" covers the development of firearms and their use throughout history.

[Konstantin Samoylov · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't know how important firearms were for Americans in taking their freedom and in shaping the American character.

[Andrew Ysasi · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exceptional book on the history of the gun. The author does a good job of algining personal protection and gun rights.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superbly written, thoroughly sourced, and surprisingly engaging. I found this to be hard to put down.

[Randall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful history of the Second Amendment. Americans history of firearms development.

[Luis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic well written book. A MUST read for anyone wanting to dig into the roots of our 2A rights.

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Engaging history of the gun in North American culture.

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.