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The Hidden History of Guns and the Second Amendment: How to Talk about Race, Religion, Politics, and Other Polarizing Topics Kindle Edition

by Thom Hartmann (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.6 375 ratings

Part of: The Thom Hartmann Hidden History Series (8 books)

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The New York Times–bestselling author explores the real history of guns in America and how to limit both their lethal impact and the gun lobby’s power.

Taking his typically in-depth, historically informed view, Thom Hartmann, the most popular progressive radio host in America, examines the brutal role guns have played in American history, from the genocide of the Native Americans to the enforcement of slavery (Slave Patrols are in fact the Second Amendment’s “well-regulated militias”) and the racist post–Civil War social order. He shows how the NRA and conservative Supreme Court justices used specious logic to invent a virtually unlimited individual right to own guns, which has enabled the ever-growing number of mass shootings in the United States. But Hartmann also identifies a handful of powerful, commonsense solutions that would break the power of the gun lobby and restore the understanding of the Second Amendment that the Framers of the Constitution intended. This is the kind of brief, brilliant analysis for which Hartmann is justly renowned.

Praise for The Hidden History of Guns and the Second Amendment

“In this precise primer on firearms practices and policies, progressive talk-show host Hartmann examines the history of routine gun usage and extreme gun violence and assesses the influence of gun ownership on contemporary political, economic, and social norms…. A brief but powerful analysis of a searing national crisis.” —Booklist

“34,000 REASONS TO READ THIS BOOK: That’s the number of gun-related deaths annually in America.” —Norman Lear

“When Thom Hartmann talks, I listen. What Thom Hartmann writes, I read. This book about the history of guns in America—and most importantly, what should be the future of guns in America—is important, mind-opening, and profoundly helpful.” —Marianne Williamson

From the Publisher

The Thom Hartmann Hidden History Series

The Hidden History Series includes ten paramount and timely books that break down the biggest obstacles of today, placing them in historic context and providing real, tangible calls to action both for individuals and society at large. Each book concisely addresses these pressing current issues and offers a set of solutions with “roadmaps” for individuals and communities to follow to create a more equitable and prosperous economy and a safer, more just society for all.

Thom lays out the ways in which inequality in America has shifted over the last 50 years and identify a handful of sensical, powerful solutions that address these issues at different levels, such as getting money out of politics, addressing social despair and economic inequality, strengthening democratic institutions of governance, and fighting fear.


	The Hidden History of Guns and the Second Amendment	The Hidden History of the Supreme Court and the Betrayal of America	The Hidden History of the War on Voting	The Hidden History of Monopolies

Customer Reviews	375	387	312	257
Price	$15.98	$12.99	$16.00	$14.15
The Hidden History Series	Thom Hartmann, the most popular progressive radio host in America and a New York Times bestselling author, looks at the real history of guns in America and what we can do to limit both their lethal impact and the power of the gun lobby.	“Hartmann delivers a full-throated indictment of the U.S. Supreme Court in this punchy polemic."—Publishers Weekly	"Hartmann’s history of voter suppression in America is necessary information given current news about voter registration purges and redistricting...a particularly timely topic for an election year…”—Booklist	“This is the most important, dynamic book on the cancers of monopoly by giant corporations written in our generation.”—from the foreword by Ralph Nader


	The Hidden History of American Oligarchy	The Hidden History of American Healthcare	The Hidden History of Big Brother in America	The Hidden History of American Democracy

Customer Reviews	302	260	62	36
Price	$14.15	$11.27	$14.15	$14.50
	This book looks at the real history of the corrupting influence of oligarchy in America—and how we can fight back.	Hartmann offers a deep dive into the shameful history of American healthcare, showing how greed, racism, and oligarchic corruption led to the current “sickness for profit” system.	America’s most popular progressive radio host and New York Times bestselling author Thom Hartmann reveals how the government and corporate America misuse our personal data and shows how we can reclaim our privacy.	America’s most popular progressive radio host and New York Times author Thom Hartmann paves the way to saving our democracy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“34,000 REASONS TO READ THIS BOOK: That’s the number of gun-related deaths annually in America.”
—Norman Lear

“There is so much fascinating, I-didn’t-know-that history, my entire copy of Hidden History has turned yellow from highlighting stuff that’s cool, amazing, and vital. I didn’t know that Thomas Jefferson demanded passage of the Second Amendment so citizen militias would eliminate the need for our new nation to have a standing army. I didn’t know that the first big gun control campaign was the KKK’s seizing of weapons from black citizens, kicking off a century of Jim Crow. Hartmann, who lets us know he enjoys squeezing off a few rounds from a semiautomatic handgun, eschews the usual BS we hear from both the NRA and NPR. Guns kill, but in an America where most gun deaths are suicides, Hartmann proves with undeniable stats that the bullets are loaded by despair and inequality. Truly a tour de force in a quick read. I’m a gun control skeptic, but I'll admit, Hartmann’s book blew me away.”
—Greg Palast, Puffin Foundation fellow in investigative reporting and author of the New York Times bestseller The Best Democracy Money Can Buy

“In this riveting book, The Hidden History of Guns and the Second Amendment, Thom Hartmann exposes the searing social and human costs of a nation awash in firearms. Because it is impossible to understand the present without understanding the past, Hartmann shows how the history of genocide and slavery forms the bedrock of United States history and how the Second Amendment was ratified to preserve that racist framework. The book compellingly examines the myths at the root of modern American gun culture and how that culture emerged in reaction to social and economic changes in the United States, as well as savvy marketing and legal maneuvering by weapons manufacturers. As the humane journalist and thinker that he is, Hartmann makes sure to fuse history and the present by offering an array of realistic and ramifying solutions to ‘cure’ America of its gun violence epidemic.”
—Katrina vanden Heuvel, Editor and Publisher, The Nation

“Thom Hartmann’s new book on America and guns achieves the impossible: it is brief yet definitive. I couldn’t put it down. And now I can’t stop thinking about it.”
—Scott Carter, playwright (Discord, C.3.3) and Executive Producer, Real Time with Bill Maher

“When Thom Hartmann talks, I listen. What Thom Hartmann writes, I read. This book about the history of guns in America—and most importantly, what should be the future of guns in America—is important, mind-opening, and profoundly helpful.”
—Marianne Williamson

“Among the many hidden truths about our gun culture and politics Thom reveals are the prerevolutionary connections of guns and slave control, as well as guns and Native American genocide. Reading this book dispels the connections we all assume, that the Second Amendment was fundamentally about freedom versus the minority controlling the majority, racism triumphing over human rights. Most importantly, Thom tells us what we can do right now to move forward.”
—Larry Cohen, Chair, Our Revolution; Past President, Communications Workers of America; and Founding Chair, Democracy Initiative

“With The Hidden History of Guns and the Second Amendment, Thom Hartmann adroitly links the relationship of guns to slavery from Columbus through Reconstruction to racism in present-day America. He explains how common-sense gun regulation has dramatically reduced mass shootings, suicides, and other terrors of gun violence in countries like Australia. This book should be required reading for every legislator.”
—Earl Katz, political ethicist and Emmy-nominated documentary producer

“Ask yourself this: How did the United States, with 5 percent of the population, end up with 50 percent of all the guns, worldwide, in civilian hands? If you can’t answer that question, or if that statistic itself shocks you, then read Thom Hartmann’s brilliant The Hidden History of Guns and the Second Amendment. From our blood-soaked history to practical, proven solutions, the book is illuminating, infuriating, and motivating. It should be required reading for every high school student—and member of Congress.”
—Medea Benjamin, author and cofounder of CODEPINK

“Unfortunately, the debate about guns in the United States has been intractable and inflammatory. Thankfully, Thom Hartmann sets the score straight in his new book about firearms in America and the Second Amendment. One by one, he rips away the false narratives and myths about guns in the United States. This is a powerful book that is incisive as a stepping-stone to a new understanding about and approach to gun reform in the Wild West of nations.”
—Mark Karlin, founder of BuzzFlash.com and former Chairman and President, Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence

“It’s no surprise to anyone that Thom Hartmann is a prolific, brilliant, bestselling author and talk radio host. What is a surprise is when the man meets the moment so perfectly. That happens in his new book, The Hidden History of Guns and the Second Amendment.
            “This profoundly personal yet typically insightful historical work so wonderfully encapsulates the pulse of our time and the sea change the Parkland kids and others have made in our national, and deadly, struggle with guns in America.
            “Thom Hartmann is a national treasure, and so is this book.”
—Stephanie Miller, national radio host

“Political sloganeering aside, guns do in fact kill people. Tens of thousands of Americans are gunned down year after year in their homes, churches, schools, offices, cars, theaters, at birthday parties, playgrounds, music events—anywhere and everywhere. It’s a national plague directly traceable to a handful of corporate profiteers, gun lobby extremists, and gutless politicians. In this liberating book, Thom Hartmann exposes their scam and proposes a path to gun sanity.”
—Jim Hightower, populist radio commentator, syndicated columnist, and editor of the monthly newsletter The Hightower Lowdown

“There is a widely accepted false choice that either we protect the lives of our schoolchildren or we protect our freedom to own guns, but we can’t do both. If you want to understand how we’ve come to think in such black-and-white terms and how the debate over guns has become so polarized as to seem intractable, this book is for you. And if you want a sane, wise, and informed way to resolve the problem, this book is most definitely for you. Thom Hartmann is one of our most brilliant and most compassionate thought leaders. Read this book and you’ll be inspired and encouraged by practical answers and a true path forward.”
—John Robbins, bestselling author and cofounder and President, Food Revolution Network

“Hartmann has given us a riveting chronicle of the history of America’s gun culture. Hartmann at once unravels the anemic underpinnings of the deafening claims by gun rights advocates for constitutional sanction while showing how gun rights ideology, born from slavery, is rooted in racial hatred and tribalism manipulated by economic demands of racketeering gun manufacturers and their corporate and political allies.”
—Bobby Kennedy

“No one does a better job of rolling out the Constitution, opening up the historical records, and separating fact from fiction than Thom Hartmann. This book is brilliant. So brilliant that if every American were to read it and take its message to heart, the lies that are used to divide could lose their power. And we might just find the common ground that so frequently eludes us.”
—John Nichols, National Affairs Correspondent, The Nation

"Thom is the professor America needs. If people knew what he knows, we'd have a vastly different country. If you want to know anything and everything about the issue of guns in America, you have to read this book."
—Cenk Uygur, Host, The Young Turks and CEO, TYT Network

About the Author

THOM HARTMANN is a progressive national and internationally syndicated and award-winning talk show host. A four-time recipient of the Project Censored Award, Hartmann is also a New York Times bestselling author of twenty-four books, translated into multiple languages.

Scott Brick is an actor, screen writer, and renowned audiobook narrator. He was born in Santa Barbra and studied acting and writing at UCLA. He began narrating audiobooks in 2000, and has since narrated over 600 titles. He has earned several accolades for his narrating talents, including two Audie Awards.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07PF1Z3XV
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Berrett-Koehler Publishers (June 4, 2019)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 4, 2019
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 4990 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 193 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #464,984 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #174 in Corruption & Misconduct in Politics
- #245 in Violence in Society (Kindle Store)
- #675 in Federal Government

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4.6 375 ratings

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Thom Hartmann

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Thom Hartmann is the four-time Project Censored Award-winning, New York Times best-selling author of 25 books currently in print in over a dozen languages on five continents.

Hartmann is also an internationally known speaker on culture and communications, an author, and an innovator in the fields of psychiatry, ecology, and economics.

The co-founder (with his wife, Louise) and former Executive Director of The New England Salem Children's Village (1978) and The Hunter School (1997), he has led national innovations in the areas of residential treatment for abused children and private/public education for learning-disabled children.

He has helped set up hospitals, famine relief programs, schools, and refugee centers in India, Uganda, Australia, Colombia, Russia, and the United States through the German-based Salem International program. Formerly rostered with the State of Vermont as a psychotherapist, founder of The Michigan Healing Arts Center, and licensed as an NLP Trainer by Richard Bandler (who wrote the foreword to one of Thom's books), he was the originator of the revolutionary "Hunter/Farmer Hypothesis" to understand the psychiatric condition known as Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD).

A guest faculty member at Goddard College in Vermont, he also synthesized the "Younger/Older Culture model" for describing the underpinnings - and possible solutions - to the world's ecological and socio-political crises, suggesting that many of our problems are grounded in cultural "stories" which go back thousands of years.

Leonardo DiCaprio was inspired by Thom's book "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight" to make the movie "The 11th Hour" (in which Thom appears), and a series of environmental videos narrated by Hartmann and DiCaprio, available at Green World Rising.

Talkers Magazine named Thom Hartmann as the most important progressive talk show host in America for the past decade, and for three of the past five years the #1 most important progressive host, in their “Heavy Hundred” ranking. His radio show is syndicated on for-profit radio stations nationwide by WYD Media, on non-profit and community stations nationwide by Pacifica, across the entire North American continent on SiriusXM Satellite radio, on cable systems nationwide by Cable Radio Network (CRN) and Free Speech TV, on its own YouTube channel, via subscription podcasts, worldwide through the US American Forces Network, and through the Thom Hartmann App in the App Store. The radio show is also simulcast as TV in realtime into nearly 60 million US and Canadian homes by the Free Speech TV Network on Dish Network, DirectTV, and cable TV systems nationwide.

As an entrepreneur, he's founded several successful businesses which still are operating, and lived and worked with his wife, Louise, and their three (now adult) children on several continents.

He was born and grew up in Michigan, and retains strong ties to the Midwest, although he and Louise have lived in New Hampshire, Vermont, Georgia, Germany, Washington DC, and Oregon.

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4.6 out of 5

375 global ratings

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Ray Omdahl

Great

Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2023

Verified Purchase

Don’t let the long title scare you. It’s only 150 pages in the pocketbook form. Mr. Hartmann tells of the history from before the amendment came about to the present. He goes back to the second visit of Columbus to the Isle of Hispaniola. How the white man used guns to conquer this land. How the 2nd Amendment was included to appease the southern slave holders. They were afraid the Constitution would disarm their militias that captured runaway slaves and help keep the slaves in “their place”. Quotes from the writers of the Constitution and many other notable men makes it clear this book is not just his opinion. It is written in an easy to read style. He includes the why and how events came about.

It includes this statement from Simon Chapman, professor at the University of Sydney’s School of Public Health. “The results are clear. Gun deaths are a problem amendable to reduction like any other public health problem. International differences in rates between countries show this. The United States has the worst record of gun deaths of any [developed] nation, exceeded only by that in chaotic nations with massive law and order problems.” Our country has twelve times the gun deaths rate than ALL other developed nations. We mandate licensing and insurance for cars. It’s only sensible to do the same for guns. This book could radically change our country into a much safer place. I hope many will read it.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Darrell Frank

clarity

Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2023

Verified Purchase

As a gun owner and I wanted to understand The Second Amendment which is one of the most misunderstood Amendments to the Constitution. I have read a variety of different analyst of it but this book brings to life the why's and the how it was written.
Quite illuminating to say the least.I have read the Federalist Papers yet this book opened new doors for me in discussing it to those who walk the line regurgitation at a nausea pace the language in the Amendment without the knowledge of what was designed to do and why the language used is present.
Highly recommend if you are open to the clarity it provides.

8 people found this helpful

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Theodore Stamas

Quick Read and Worth the Price

Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2019

Verified Purchase

Quick read at 150 pages. Kept my interest the whole way through, but since I am for gun control, was like preaching to the choir. Well worth the price.

2 people found this helpful

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Phoenix Rising

Great read

Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2023

Verified Purchase

Down to earth, straight to the point and easy to follow history lesson all wrapped up in 150 pages.

I really wish they'd teach this in school, what's the point of thinking "we're the greatest country on earth" when all the other countries know the truth about America and the founders, frontiersman and political parties.

If you didn't know our Constitution protects murders and genocide... This book is for you!

I'm ordering the next couple of books from the series.

One person found this helpful

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Straycat

Well documented and thorough history

Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2019

Verified Purchase

Here the author dermatologists find and reduced them to their true status, that of a tool, like an automobile. The regulation of guns is not a mystery, or a conspiracy of statists, but common sense. The comparison with automobile regulation is spot on. No need to take anyone's guns, but only to use the same legal regions as cars, train, test and license the driver and identify and register the car. Not hard, and working in many free countries.

5 people found this helpful

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Rude Boy

Concise and to the point!

Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2020

Verified Purchase

Author provides an historic context to the audience and explains the reasons behind the often misunderstood second amendment. Mr Hartmann provides a well researched, well documented and well summarized history and purpose of the second amendment by the country's founders. Americans need to understand why the second amendment was originally enacted, continues to be misrepresented, and conveniently misused by many for self-preservation.

8 people found this helpful

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Jerry B.

A great historical account

Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2019

Verified Purchase

The actual history of the second amendment is brought to light. Very interesting fact as to the motives behind the language of the final draft that we see today. If you are a history buff, firearms enthusiast or just want to know what’s behind the ruckus, then it is a very quick read. Thom offers some solutions which have been brought to light previously. Spoiler the solutions are not about banning firearms.

18 people found this helpful

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JC

Excellent book written by one of the smartest guys in America

Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2019

Verified Purchase

Read this cover to cover over a few days and learned so much. Deals with guns, racism, politics, policies, etc. Well worth the read

14 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Anthony

Cogent and insightful explanation of guns and America

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 28, 2024

Verified Purchase

This fairly short book, written in short explanatory chapters explains America's relationship with guns and how they have influenced the history of the Americas in general. However, the book also addresses other problems with the country too. As you read it, as a non-American, light bulbs go off continually, those 'oh I see!' moments. As I read the book, I couldn't help thinking that I was just an ignorant foreigner and, of course, Americans must already know all this stuff. It must simply be my inexperience that makes me so surprised all the time. But, as you read further and further, you discover that they don't, it's not just that they know, but disregard, but most people don't know. For instance, the fact that the Constitution does NOT give them the right to bear guns. That the legislature is actually owned by big business, by law, member by member in both houses. That local authority funding of schools, rather than a national financing, means that poor neighbourhoods, very often black, have poor schools and the students are less well-educated automatically, which bolsters the dangerous myth that black people are inherently less intelligent. And so on.

The Supreme Court, Thom Hartmann says, is completely corrupt. It is simply a voice of whichever political party has appointed the majority of justices. The book was written before Roe v Wade was overturned, which would have provided Hartmann with the perfect example.
Hartmann gives a simple solution to the gun problem at least - just regulate like that other lethal weapon we use - the motor car.
This book should be read by all Americans, but, of course, that might be asking too much.

Old Sailor

America's Guns

Reviewed in Australia on September 29, 2019

Verified Purchase

This book goes a long way in explaining the reasons for the Second Amendment, and why gun ownership is so fundamental in the US compared to other western democracies.
We learn about the mass killings of native Americans, as settlers fought their way westward and why southern slave owners all had guns to catch and return escaped slaves.
Today's problem is that the guns at the time of the Second Amendment and western settlement bear no resemblance to the deadly automatic weapons of today, which are used in mass random shootings of innocent citizens.

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The Hidden History of Guns and the Second Amendment: How to Talk about Race, Religion, Politics, and Other Polarizing Topics Kindle Edition

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The Thom Hartmann Hidden History Series

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Thom Hartmann

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