Unintended Consequences
by John Ross
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Book Reviews of Unintended Consequences
Book Review: Opened my eyes, when I thought I was wide awake.
Summary: 5 Stars
5 people on the gun boards I belong to recomended Unintended Consequences. When looking the book up I was intimidated by it's page count but decided to order it anyway seeing as how I work nights and this will consume the long hours of boredom at work.
I don't think I have ever been so satified with a purchase from Amazon ever (sans Haing S. Ngor's autobiography, another excellent book). It's worth every penny I paid.
Some reviewers claim the book is rascist, or anti-semetic. Actualy, if they would have read the book instead lying about it's content, they would have realized that on numerious occassions Ross comes out against slavery, rascisim and anti-semetisim. These are all easy and typical ways advocates of Gun Control want to keep the message in Unintended Consequences out of the mainstream.
Good examples of why neagtive reviews are wrong are the story of Irwin Mann, The Bonus Army, The Battle of Athens, and Henery Bowman explaining why slavery was not only very wrong but economically stupid for the south.
If you're for second ammendment rights, this book will deepen your knowladge of the history of firearms and firearms laws in the US (a noteable example was the roots of the National Firearms Act and Henerys review of the M60).
If you're for Gun Control, theres no harm in testing your ideas and challenging your views. If one's ideas are so closely held, then they should routenly be challenged to temper, alter or even to abandon them.
If you are considering purchasing this book I have a few tips:
-Buy it for yourself first, you'll find out it will make a great gift later on to friends an family.
-Don't let it's page count intimidate you.
-Research the things talked about in the book on the internet.
-Keep an open mind.
-Don't try to read it in one sitting. Take a month to gradually digest the book it will be a much more comfortable experience.
Ross may not have known it before writing the first draft but by writing this book he has in fact become, a member of the Gun Culture.
I eagerly await it's sequel, and will be pre-ordering it as soon as it becomes avaliable.
Book Review: Important enough to include in my 2nd Amendment work
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a great read and really puts you into the head of the gun culture, despite the many typos missed by the proofreader. Before I read this book I had never fired a gun (at the age of 50), but I wasn't bored by the technical details. Now I have three rifles and am waiting for a handgun permit.I found this and a half dozen other books on The Right to Bear Arms by searching Amazon.com, because I'm an artist doing a series about the United States Constitution. This book is included in the work, along with six other titles. I recommend that you read all of them to get a good sense of what's going on in this country.
There are so many points of view on this major issue that no one book gives a clear picture. Each book is rebound in Nigerian goatskin, with a quote excerpted from the book tooled in 23k gold on the cover. The endpapers of each book are targets made of images representing the subject of that volume, printed in color on Rives BFK or handmade paper on an Epson Stylus 1500 printer. I took the targets to a shooting range and shot them with a Norinco MAC-90, an Enfield 2A-1, and a Ruger 10-22, at distances of 50 feet to 100 yards. Two of the books are shot through the covers. The books are displayed in a snakeskin case which I designed and constructed, with Plexiglas sides and sliding doors. Above the books is a Norinco MAC-90 Sporter, a semiautomatic version of the AK-47 assault rifle. Also in the case are 1,000 rounds of ammunition, two five-round hunting clips, a 40-round "banana" magazine, and a 75-round drum magazine.
The books are: Unintended Consequences by John Ross; The Right to Bear Arms: The Rise of America's New Militias by Jonathan Karl; American Militias: Rebellion, Racism & Religion by Richard Abanes; The Limits of Dissent: The Constitutional Status of Armed Civilian Militias by Thomas Halpern and Brian Levin; A Force Upon the Plain: The American Militia Movement and the Politics of Hate by Kenneth S. Stern; Gathering Storm: America's Militia Threat by Morris Dees; and Alan Gottlieb's The Rights of Gun Owners. You can get them all at Amazon.com.
Book Review: Point Well Taken, But Wretched Excess Abounds
Summary: 3 Stars
Like most of those below who've read "Unintended Consequences" by John Ross, I am a diehard supporter of the Bill of Rights and especially the Second Amendment. However, simply because I share a common ideology with the author does not a classic make, and I think that many readers have overlooked UC's shortcomings because they agree with Ross' message.UC is really several books combined into a single volume: a history of firearms regulation told through fictionalized first-person accounts, an escapist adventure story, and a technical manual for gunnies. The author succeeds best with historical fiction; the account of the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto is unforgettable. I also enjoyed the telling of events surrounding the 1938 Miller vs. U.S. Supreme Court decision, as this case is frequently cited by both sides in the gun control debate. Clearly, most of them have never bothered to examine the facts or holding of this case, which may explain why the decision is interpreted to support the claims of both factions.
UC also does well as escapist entertainment in the Tom Clancy tradition; the author has created a scenario in which he is able to effectively put on display his knowledge of history, politics and Midwestern life, and he does tell a good story. Be forewarned that this story includes gratuitous violence, abuse of corpses, occasional misogyny and sex of numerous varieties including lesbianism, blowjobs, heterosexual rape and homosexual rape, so look elsewhere if you find this stuff offensive.
The abundant technical information, including such exotica as Solothurns and advanced sniper tactics, is interesting but goes well beyond what is necessary. Yes, Mr. Ross REALLY likes guns and REALLY knows A LOT about guns, but such material is better suited to 'Gun Digest' or Maj. John Plaster's 'The Ultimate Sniper', which I highly recommend for those interested in long-range shooting.
Overall, good book with extremely valuable information, but sorely in need of an editor and a proofreader, and certainly not in the league of Atlas Shrugged.
Book Review: My most frequently read book...
Summary: 5 Stars
This book doesn't occupy a space on my bookshelf--it is usually in someones hands having eyes and minds focussed on it...John Ross takes the reader on a perilous journey through the "gun culture" in 20th Century America. Starting in the early 1900's with Ad Topperwein,the tale is at first historical. Many of the early day feats of arms are documented to lead the reader through many little-known events that begin to illustrate the true significance of the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution. Events such as the Bonus March and the 1939 U.S. vs. Miller case are used as examples of the author's basic premise that our government has become too intrusive and that a virtual police state has evolved. Mr. Ross introduces as his protaganist Henry Bowman,a young man from St. Louis,steeped in the gun culture from early childhood, and several other well developed characters that are essential to the plot. Most notable is Raymond Johnson from Colorado. Ray is very important to the tale since he experiences a long period of absence from the U.S. as a professional hunter in Africa. Upon his return he experiences massive culture shock and becomes Bowman's partner in the events detailed in the book. Many have expressed dissatisfaction with some of the sexual events described it exquisite detail,and to some of the language used. These events and some of the expletives are used deliberately in order to emphasize to the reader the dramatic changes our country has undergone in the last half of the past century. In the 1950's to describe such acts and use such language would have been almost unthinkable. Cindy Caswell is used as a tool to describe some of the perversion our once moral society now ,if not condones , at least to which turns a blind eye. For out of the mouth of Cindy Caswell or of Raymond Johnson comes the outrage of the author towards a government that is out of control. The events of the novel may shock some,but the author may just be prophetic.
Never a dull book in spite of it's length. Not for the weak of stomach or faint of heart. Buy it. Read it. Share it.
Book Review: I Wanted To Like It More...
Summary: 3 Stars
Anyone who loves freedom and hates what's happened to individual rights in America this past century will thrill to the theme of "Unintended Consequences." And I must admit, I derived quite a bit of enjoyment from its epic story of the "gun culture" under siege. But, as a work of fiction, the book's more than a little jagged. As a hortatory script for action, it's more than a little implausible.Mr. Ross's love of firearms is laudable, and his erudition in that sphere is truly amazing. However, I found myself skimming long passages that rhapsodized about the technical characteristics of various weapons, to conserve the drive of the fictional narrative -- the story I was there to read. A good editor would not have permitted so many arid passages of technical fact in a novel, whose first duty is to entertain.
Because of the sweep of time and the cast of characters it covers, the story is more than a little episodic. That's all right in and of itself, but the sense of overall connectedness is weaker than it should be. Too many of the early vignettes just don't bind firmly enough to the central filaments of the story. Again, there was room for a sharp editor to help the work a lot.
Finally, the federal government of these United States has demonstrated that it would not negotiate -- in good faith, anyway -- with someone who resists its lightest whims, unless that someone is a nation-state. We have ample evidence of this, from the Whiskey Rebellion through the Civil War to the massacres at Waco and Ruby Ridge. The final Bowman / Kane / Johnson revolt would not provoke any conciliatory response, but rather would garner the feds enough public acquiescence to put the entire country under martial law, suspending the tattered remnants of our rights "until we've hunted these vicious jackals down." That condition, once installed, might never be lifted.
Yet I did like it, in parts very much. It's always stirring to read about men of principle who put their lives, fortunes and sacred honor on the line for freedom.