I heard about this book from a good friend who heard about it from NPR. It is the story of how a handgun that was developed in Austria by a curtain rod manufacturer came to dominate the U.S. market and, more salaciously, of the various scandals that have rocked the company in the past three decades. Hit men, alcoholism, domestic violence, tax evasion, and embezzlement have never been more intriguing.
Paul Barrett did a phenomenal amount of research for this book, speaking with any number of characters – upstanding and shady, alike – on both sides of the pond to put together a comprehensive and relatively unbiased look at how Glock has grown and prospered in the 25 years since the guns first entered the American market. (Unbiased except for the tax evasion bit – it’s clear he thinks evading Uncle Sam is bad, and also that he is pretty incredulous about some of the poor management practices at the company. In fact, at times this reads as a case study, but a very, very good one.) Although it seems clear at times that he does not agree with the NRA, he does nevertheless articulate their arguments in accessible language so that even a gun-control advocate such as myself can say, “well, I never thought of it that way,” even if thinking of it that way still doesn’t bring me around to their side.
Overall, Glock, read like a book-length journalism feature story, which is high praise from a WSJ or Washington Post geek like me. I am very glad this book was recommended to me, as it’s unlikely I would have found it on my own and, at the end of the day, it really checked all of the boxes for me: thoroughly researched, well-written, engaging, and on a topic which I didn’t know much about and would otherwise be completely ignorant. Also, the scandals are about as much fun as you can have in high finance and international business…
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