Tools of Violence: Guns, Tanks and Dirty Bombs (General Military)

The tools of lethal force have always attracted controversy and fascination. In the modern media age, however, they are also surrounded by confusion and misunderstanding. McNab and Keeter cut through mythology and misinformation and comprehensively lay out the facts, often revealing startling gaps in our everyday knowledge.

Tools of Violence unravels the myths of modern weaponry. Not only explaining how a weapon system works, the authors explore how it is applied by soldiers, police or civilians under pressure, what happens when innocents get in the way, its effect on the human body or physical structures, its political controversies, and its place in international law. Judgments are backed up by interviews with those directly engaged with weapons technology, including frontline soldiers, police officers, academics, weapons specialists and defense analysts.

Accessible and absorbing, Tools of Violence is essential reading for those wanting to understand the weapons technology of today and how and why it is used.

CONTENTS

Introduction; Hand-Held War - Small Arms; Perfect Destruction - Explosives; Mechanized Muscle - Battlefield Armor; Death from a Distance - Artillery: Power from Above - Military Aviation; Firepower at Sea - Naval Weapon Systems; Shadow Threat - Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Weapons / WMD

Hunter Keeter is a consultant in naval and military technology and operations. From 1998 to 2004, he worked as journalist and editor on several publications, including Sea Power Magazine and the defense trade newsletter, Defense Daily. In addition Keeter has authored articles for Naval Forces International magazine, and the USN publications, Undersea Warfare and Surface Warfare as well as books on the US Marine Corps, US homeland security forces, and the history of American air and land forces during the Vietnam War.

Chris McNab is a freelance writer specializing in military history and military technology. To date he has authored or co-authored over 25 books, including Weapons of War: AK47, The Illustrated History of the Vietnam War, the Elite Forces Survival Guide series and The Encyclopedia of Combat Techniques. He has also written for The Times of London on the war in Iraq. He lives in Wales, UK. The author lives in Alexandria, VA.