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Author Keller, Julia.

Title Mr. Gatling's terrible marvel : the gun that changed everything and the misunderstood genius who invented it / Julia Keller.

Publication Info. New York : Viking, 2008.

Copies

Location Call No. Status
 Cromwell-Belden Public Library - Adult Department  623.44 KEL    Check Shelf
 Windsor, Main Library - Adult Department  623.4 KE    Check Shelf
Description 294 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages [271]-283) and index.
Summary Although little used during the American Civil War--the time in which it was invented--the Gatling gun soon changed the nature of warfare and the course of history. Discharging 200 shots per minute with alarming accuracy, the world's first machine gun became vitally important to protecting and expanding America's overseas interests. Its inventor, Richard Gatling, was famous in his own time for creating and improving many industrial designs, from bicycles and steamship propellers to flush toilets. Gatling actually proposed his gun as a way of saving lives, thinking it would decrease the size of armies. Cultural critic Julia Keller's account of the invention, its misunderstood creator, and its tremendous impact on world events also shows how its combination of ingenuity, idealism, and destructive power, perfectly exemplified the paradox of America's rise as a world superpower.--From publisher description.
Contents Cold beauty -- A world of mornings -- Land of the second chance -- "Drunkards, dandies & loafers" -- The spaces between the bullets -- "A little Gatling music" -- "The world's great storm" -- Warriors and sages.
Subject Gatling, Richard Jordan, 1818-1903.
Gatling guns.
Inventors -- United States -- Biography.
Gatling, James Henry, 1816-1879.
ISBN 9780670018949
0670018945
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