Armed and Dangerous

by Newton, Michael

• ISBN13: 9780898793703
• ISBN10: 089879370X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1990-07-01
• Publisher: Writers Digest Books

Summary

Inaccurate information about weapons can kill your story long before publication. Today's readers of mysteries, thrillers, action/ adventure, westerns, true crime, police procedurals, and romantic suspense are better informed about weapons than ever before. If you think you can slip one past these readers, you're wrong. Dead wrong. You don't have to be a "gun buff" to need this book. If you care enough about your readers and your craft to strive for accuracy, then this book is your comprehensive source for information on: The characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages of hundreds of weapons. Which weapons were available during each period of history, including wars. Weapons favored by various types of criminals and terrorists. Weapons used by law enforcement. Weapons used for hunting. You'll also find a glossary of weapon-related terms and a series of appendices including: A selective chronology of firearms development, comparative handgun identification information, comparative trajectories of rifle cartridges. In the past, this kind of information was attainable only through hours of digging through a variety of reference books. Now it's available at your fingertips in one handy guide. Make sure your story is accurate--refer to Armed & Dangerous! Michael Newton has written nearly 70 novels in all, under various pseudonyms. His 14+ nonfiction books include an encyclopedia of 20th century killers.

Table of Contents

Fatal Attraction
America's love affair with firearms; common weapons errors in modern fiction; the desirability of accuracy and precision	1	(6)
Tools of Ill Omen
Beginnings; wheel locks and flintlocks; America in arms; percussion arms; breechloaders; a house divided	7	(15)
How the West Was Really Won
The Indian Wars; annihilating species; head 'em up and move 'em out; fast guns and tin stars; high noon	22	(16)
America at War
The ``Splendid Little War''; ``Over There''; World War II and Korea; Vietnam and beyond	38	(18)
Behind Enemy Lines
The Spanish-American War; World War I; World War II; the Korean War; Vietnam; the Warsaw Pact	56	(20)
Cops and Robbers
The modern wheelgun; ``automatic'' options; scatterguns in action; rifles; submachine guns	76	(19)
Licensed to Kill
The spy in fiction; choice of weapons; the sounds of silence; the assassination game; ``exotics''	95	(13)
Reign of Terror
Rifles; pistols; automatic weapons; sources of terrorist arms; the antiterrorist response; reading the riot act	108	(16)
Whodunit?
``Was that a shot?''; identifying weapons; beating firearms identification; matching man to gun; who shot whom?	124	(13)
Sporting Arms
Rifles; shotguns; handguns; paramilitary arms; black powder arms; ``There oughta be a law''	137	(11)
Ground Zero
The sources of explosives; fuses; bombs away; booby traps; to err is lethal; grenades; the rocket's red glare; no nukes is good nukes	148	(21)
Appendix A: A selective chronology of firearms development	169	(4)
Appendix B: Comparative handgun identification information	173	(1)
Appendix C: Comparative trajectories of rifle cartridges	174	(4)
Glossary	178	(4)
Bibliography	182	(2)
Index	184