Guns for children!
Being able to download PDFs of articles from JSTOR is a lot more convenient than photocopying them out of the journals, but one of the things we’ve lost is seeing the enigmatic (and sometimes bizarre) fragments of other articles on the pages facing the start and end of the article you want. This book review, from the 1957 issue of the Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, looks slightly disturbing now, and is the sort of thing that used to give military history a bad name:
GUNS. By S. E. ELLACOTT. (Methuen & Co., Ltd. London. 1955. 8s. od.)
This is described as “primarily for boys,” but everyone interested in weapons will enjoy reading this volume and studying the author’s 86 illustrations in clear and telling line-drawings. One constant problem of a Society like ours is the recruitment of new members, and the strategic present of a book like this is likely to develop an early intelligent interest in one aspect at least of our researches. “Brown Bess” gets a raw deal (p. 26), but since the author, besides including sections on naval and land artillery, discusses sporting as well as military weapons and has lively pages on machine guns and pistols, he may be forgiven. The story goes from the first guns in the fourteenth century to the F.N. type B automatic and “Atomic Annie,” and the whole production is well worth reading. Other books in this series of “Outlines” which can be recommended are “Castles and Fortresses” and “The Crusades,” both by R. R. Seilman.
Lively pages on machine guns: what more could you want? But remember, it’s primarily for boys. If you’re a girl, stop reading now.
