{"product_id":"the-gun-that-changed-the-world-9780745636924","title":"The Gun That Changed the World","description":"\u003cp\u003e • Author(s): Mikhail Kalashnikov\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher: Polity Press\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher Imprint: Polity Press\u003cbr\u003e • BISAC: Military\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Russian word that is most frequently spoken throughout the world isn't Lenin, gulag or perestroika, it’s ‘Kalashnikov’. The reason for this is simple: there are 80 million Kalashnikovs in circulation on five continents. Once invented, the AK-47 assault rifle became the most widely used weapon in the world: from Vietnam to Palestine, from Cuba to Iraq, it was at the heart of conflicts and struggles everywhere. It is the only firearm that has ever been depicted on a national flag – that of Mozambique, where it symbolizes liberation.\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMikhail Kalashnikov himself, who was born in 1919, here tells his life story, with the help of Elena Joly, for the first time: his deportation to Siberia with his family while still a child; his time as a soldier in a tank regiment; his invention of the world’s most famous weapon and his turbulent life under Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Gorbachev and Yeltsin. This is a remarkable portrait of a man of ingenuity and vitality in the context of the often frightening and terribly unforgiving Russia of the twentieth century.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Polity Press","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":45201291477143,"sku":"9780745636924","price":2183.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0666\/3471\/1191\/files\/9780745636924.webp?v=1767307240","url":"https:\/\/atlanticbooks.com\/products\/the-gun-that-changed-the-world-9780745636924","provider":"Atlantic Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}