Weapon: A Visual History of Arms and Armor - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 075666540X ISBN 13: 9780756665401

Publisher: DK Publishing, 2010

Synopsis

For 4,000 years weapons, and the warriors who used them,have acted as the cutting edge of history, using ax, spear, bow, sword, gun, and cannon to determine the rise of kingdoms and the fall of empires. From the stone axes of the earliest warfare to the heavy artillery of today''s modern armies,this awe-inspiring book portrays for the first time the entire spectrum of weaponry. Illustrations explain key features and working mechanisms of important weapons Beautifully photographed and richly cataloged-often in actual size Details weapons that changed the face of warfare, from the sword to the Gatling gun.

About this title

About the Author

Roger Ford is the author of dozens of books in the field of military history and weapons technology and systems, including the bestselling The World's Great Machine Guns: From 1860 to the Present Day. R.G. Grant is a history writer who has published more than 20 books, many of them dealing with aspects of military conflict. He has written on the American Revolution, World War I, and World War II, and is the author of DK’s Battle, Warrior, and Flight: 100 Years of Aviation.

From Booklist

Written by a team of British military historians, this oversize volume seizes attention with the publisher's brand-name design: images surrounded by information-packed captions silhouetted against a white or a black background. Its pictures are sure to snare the substantial audience interested in the history of swords, guns, and body armor. Limiting the subject to portable armaments, the work extends from the first likely weapon (a rock) to the rifles issued to contemporary infantrymen. In most cases, the emphasis is on the tools of the ordinary soldier, his equipage through time explained with arrowed illustrations. The evolution of handheld weaponry is soon apparent, with that of firearms especially prominent. Some guns depicted here will be recognizable (think AK-47) even to those who recoil from guns. Explaining how such lethal equipment works is Weapon's forte; another asset is the comparison of weapon categories across a suite of historical societies. Popular? That's a foregone conclusion. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: DK Publishing
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 075666540X
• ISBN 13: 9780756665401
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 360