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Book Reviews on...

The Social History of the Machine Gun by John Ellis
Buy now

The Social History of the Machine Gun

by John Ellis

The notion in this book, which is that something that can be hugely lethal can also bring about good, is one that we have to recognise and embrace. No society can prevent the invention of potentially lethal material. What it can do is ensure that it is dealt with within an ethical framework. This book shows that the invention of the machine gun and its deployment was rather badly handled and it has lessons for us.

Recommendations from our site

“he notion in this book, which is that something that can be hugely lethal can also bring about good, is one that we have to recognise and embrace.” Read more...

The best books on Ethics in Public Life

Alex Carlile, Lawyer

Our most recommended books

  • War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

    War and Peace
    by Leo Tolstoy

  • On Liberty
    by John Stuart Mill

  • Middlemarch
    by George Eliot

  • Nineteen Eighty-Four
    by George Orwell

  • The Confessions
    by Augustine (translated by Maria Boulding)

  • Plato's Republic

    Republic
    by Plato

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