Has Anyone Read The Book "Glock", by Paul Barrett?

[Joe_Pike]

I have been kicking around getting a Glock for a long time (well, at least I was when I had money), but after reading this book I have pretty much changed my mind. It has nothing to do with the gun itself, though.

Just curious if anyone else has read the book and what their take on it was.

 

[BarryLee]

I have not read the book, but GLOCK has a facility in Smyrna, GA and the local paper has run a number of stories. Basically they have been covering various law suits and criminal prosecutions involving current and former executives.

So, is this sort of what you are referring to?

Is the book a good read?

 

[Joe_Pike]

Yes, it was interesting. I was kind of surprised to learn what Gaston Glock thinks about Americans - he doesn't really care for them. He thinks we are lazy and stupid. Funny thing is he made the vast majority of his money by selling guns in the US. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.

 

[Technosavant]

I've read the book. When it came out there was a big hoopla about the subtitle "America's Gun" by people who didn't stop to think about the point the author was making.

It's a very interesting read, if for no other reason than it basically makes the point that the Glock became popular because it was truly revolutionary, not because of any particularly savvy management or marketing. In fact, it seems that it succeeded more in spite of the Glock company itself than because of it.

Even if you aren't into Glock firearms (I'm not now, not likely ever to be), it's fairly well done and a good read. The author tries to keep out of the gun control debate (not always successfully), but it seems like he has been not just factual but truthful in explaining how this upstart curtain rod maker managed to create one of the most popular sidearms the world has ever known.

 

[Glenn E. Meyer]

I found it an interesting read. The marketing strategy was interesting.

 

[Dfariswheel]

What I took away from it was that Gaston Glock is an arrogant odd-ball inventor with very questionable ethics and lack of honesty.
He has the opinion that his admittedly great and revolutionary pistol is absolutely perfect and is unwilling to consider that it might not be as perfect as he thinks.

In the furtherance of selling his gun to America he surrounded himself with other people of very questionable ethics and very much a lack of honesty.
With the money pouring in, Glock and his people proceeded to roll over on each other, steal from each other, and cheat the the IRS.

 

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Isn't that the way the free market works? Don't forget that one guy hired a hit man to do Gaston. But the old guy held his own.

 

[Tom Servo]

To folks who weren't there, Bartlett goes into a very good history of the American gun market in the early 1990's. Colt and S&W were absolutely clueless, and the speed with which Glock took over the law enforcement market was amazine. Bartlett does a good job of explaining the whole thing, including some truly hilarious insider anecdotes.

(I live near Atlanta, and yes, I can verify the Gold Club parties he mentions )

He gripes a bit about high-capacity magazines, but for the most part, the book is neutral on politics.

 

[Joe_Pike]

He also seemed to paint the NRA as overzealous thugs. Now, I admit, the NRA sometimes goes a little over the top, but I think they almost have to be a little over the top with the constant barrage of stuff thrown at the gun community by those that want to legislate firearms out of our hands.

I will say one thing for Mr. Glock - after taking six or seven rubber hammer blows to the head he still managed to get the best of his would be assassin. That's pretty darn impressive for a guy that was in his seventies at the time.

 

[Mike Irwin]

Having been inside the NRA during the time about which Barrett is writing (I was associate editor of American Rifleman from October 1990 to April 1994), his characterization of the organization at that time is pretty spot on.

But, given how the gun control fight was trending in the early 1990s, how firearms groups and manufacturers were beginning to splinter under the pressure, I don't think NRA's leadership had any other option available than being the 800 pound gorilla with an axe handle.

Barrett's book, I thought, was an excellent survey overall of psyche of the times and the psyche of some of the people involved. I met a number of those people at the time, and some of the stories that were circulating then, stories that weren't touched on in the book, were even more interesting.