Gunfight (WW Norton & Co)

This provocative history reveals how guns - not abortion, race or religion - are at the heart of America's cultural divide. In his examination of America's four-centuries-long political battle over gun control and the right to bear arms, Adam Winkler uses a landmark 2008 case, which invalidated a law banning handguns in the nation's capital, as a springboard for a groundbreaking historical narrative. From the Founding Fathers and the Second Amendment to the origins of the Klu Klux Klan, ironically as a gun control organisation, the debate over guns has always generated controversy. Whether examining the Black Panthers' role in provoking the modern gun rights movement or Ronald Reagan's efforts to curtail gun ownership, Winkler weaves together the dramatic stories of gun rights advocates and gun control lobbyists, providing often unexpected insights into the venomous debate that cleaves America.