| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 89.3

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 89.3 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Gun Violence in America: The Struggle for Control. By Alexander DeConde. (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2001. 394 pp. $29.95, ISBN 1-55553-486-4.)

Gun control is one of the most contentious issues in contemporary politics; it involves bitter disputes over both principles and practices. Scholarship on the topic can receive hostile readings; both More Guns, Less Crime by John R. Lott (2000) and Arming America by Michael A. Bellesiles (2000) have been subjected to methodological, political, and ad hominem denunciations. 1

Alexander DeConde enters this fray on the side of gun control; he argues that both gun violence and efforts to control guns have long histories in the United States. He organizes his book chronologically and draws heavily from secondary sources. A typical chapter contains descriptions of violent acts involving guns, reformers' calls for increased controls on guns, efforts by gun advocates to preserve access to firearms, legislative maneuvering regarding gun policies, court decisions in gun-related cases, and the like. Because there is a tendency to bounce from topic to topic, it is difficult to identify and follow a narrative thread. . . .

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