The NRA

For the first time, the definitive account of AmericaΓÇÖs most powerful, most secretive, and most controversial nonprofit, and how far it has strayed from its origins.
The National Rifle Association is unique in American life. Few other civic organizations are as old or as large. None is as controversial. It is largely due to the NRA that the U.S. gun policy differs so extremely ΓÇö some would say so tragically ΓÇö from that of every other developed nation. But, as Frank Smyth shows, the NRA has evolved from an organization concerned above all with marksmanship ΓÇö and which supported most government efforts around gun control for a hundred years ΓÇö to one that resists all attempts to restrict guns in any way. At the same time, the organization has also buried its own remarkable history.

Here is that story, from the NRAΓÇÖs surprising roots in post-Civil War New York City to the defining event that changed its culture forever ΓÇö the so called ΓÇ£Cincinnati RevoltΓÇ¥ of 1977 ΓÇö to the present day, where President Donald Trump is the most ardent champion in the White House the NRA has ever had. For anyone who has looked at access to guns in our society and asked ΓÇ£Why?ΓÇ¥, this is an unmatched account of how we got here, and who got us here.