Nathan Gorenstein

Remarkable Biography Of One Of The Most Influential Men Of The 20th Century. In this, the first biography of John Moses Browning ever written by anyone other than a descendant (and only the second ever written, period), Gorenstein does a truly remarkable job of showing the life, times, and inventions of a man who could arguably be said to be more actually influential on the 20th century than even Thomas Edison or Henry Ford. Yes, Edison revolutionized how we are able to see and gave us the truly 24/7 world, and Ford revolutionized both transportation and manufacturing more generally, but Browning revolutionized how we *kill things* - animal or human - and that alone has driven many of the most important issues of the 20th century. It was Browning's early rifles that may not have won the West - but certainly made it even easier to live there. It was Browning's (then-Colt) 1911 that is *to this day* one of the most popular types of pistol in the world, over a century after Browning won the competition for the US Army's new service pistol (a contract it would keep for over 70 years and through both World Wars, the Korean Conflict, and the Vietnam War). Indeed, that very model - the Colt 1911 - played a legendary part of the lore of one Lieutenant George S Patton and the first motorized military raid in the 1916-17 Punitive Expedition. In WWII, many infantry units - very likely including both of my grandfathers' own units - carried up to four different Browning guns into battle, between his 1911, his Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR), and his "Ma Deuce" Browing M2 .50 caliber machine gun.

And Gorenstein does a phenomenal job of showing the development and importance of each, including Browning designing the gas-piston system of modern automatic and semi-automatic rifles *in a single day*. Gorenstein shows how Browning, of truly humble beginnings, designed his first gun from scraps laying around his dad's engineering and repair shop - just to hunt small game to help feed the family. Gorenstein shows how these humble beginnings played such a role in Browning not even really beginning to invent until at or beyond the age when others in more academic professions say genius decays - and how this "lost decade" played such a role in Browning's later drive and inventiveness.

It doesn't matter what you think of how Browning's designs and their derivatives over the last 100 years have been used. You know about Edison, or can. You know about Ford, or can. You deserve to educate yourself about this genius as well, if only to learn the lessons of his genius. And this book is the very first time you really can. Very much recommended.… (mere)

Gorenstein fashions something I'd never been interested in, gun design, into a fascinating read. I never really thought much about how guns even work, and the descriptions here make it all clear to a novice like me. He was an investigative reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and it shows.

A shy genius, Browning pictured his inventions in his head and worked without drawings. He started in the 1870s. He'd build his prototypes in Utah, bring them on the train to manufacturers in the East and sell the designs to the likes of Colt and Winchester. Later the guns were made by Fabrique Nationale in Belgium. The assassination of Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, which sparked the first World War, was accomplished with a Browning design, the 1910 handgun. His 1911 design was also well known and revered in gun circles.) Machine guns and semi automatics, also first designed in his mind, and then made by FN well into the 20th century, became ubiquitous and were used in wars all over the world. I didn't know any of this before reading this book.
It's being published this week so I'm getting the word out although I'm still reading it. The name Browning should be as well known as Smith & Wesson, Glock and Luger are.… (mere)

This reads like fiction but is frighteningly true. There are gangsters. There's a beautiful girl. And there's murder.
Tommy Gun Winter is well researched and gives you a deep understanding of the people involved: two brothers, an MIT graduate, a preacher's daughter. The story is pushed along by newspaper reporters. What I love about books like this is that not only do I get a riveting tale about crime, I get a mini history lesson in politics, reporting, and other things that change through the years. I understand a little more about the 1930's now. I really recommend this book.… (mere)

Like other reviews have said, this is a well researched account of an interesting piece of Massachusetts history. Criminals Murton and Irving Millen were no Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, though they wanted to be, and so while their story made for a good read, I found Tommy Gun Winter to be somewhat lacking. The writing is solid, though sometimes repetitive, and Nathan Gorenstein clearly knows his history, but this book isn't a must read. I couldn't help but think that Gorenstein only wrote this book because he's related to the brothers - to him, it's personal. But other readers probably won't be as enamored.… (mere)