AK47 – The Story of the People’s Gun, by Michael Hodges.
I was inspired to buy this after firing the iconic weapon on a visit to Budapest. Unlike the book, the gun did not disappoint.
Michael Hodges is evidently a talented writer, but the concept of this book has obviously flummoxed him. It is a difficult concept, admittedly. The AK47 is an icon, a powerful political symbol and, of course, a weapon. But the task of combining these aspects into a readable and illuminating narrative has eluded Hodges. What he has produced is merely a mish-mash of stories with the gun as their (loose) theme, with little broader context and no overarching ‘thread’ at all.
There is a book to be written about this most iconic of weapons, but sadly this is not it.