MR. GATLING'S TERRIBLE MARVEL The Gun That Changed Everything and the Misunderstood Genius Who Invented It

The creation of the first machine gun, after the Civil War, is documented in ornate detail in this fascinating account of inventor Richard Gatling's most innovative creation. Though it’s the gun that unquestionably changed the world—for better or worse—the man behind the machine is also profiled, due to his relative obscurity. Narrator Norman Dietz delivers the text with an unbiased voice capable of garnering high praise for Gatling's adroitness while also inducing an alarming sense of regret and penitence at the weapon's effects. There exists a subtle irony in Dietz's tone through much of the reading as he relates Gatling's original intention of creating a weapon that would actually save lives by removing soldiers from harm's way. Thus, Deitz jousts left and right with ideology as he passionately relates the "terrible paradox" of the Gatling gun. L.B. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2009]