Weapon: A Visual History of Arms and Armor

by Richard Holmes

Book Overview

Discover the origin, design, range, and function of arms including stone axes, swords, machine-guns, and sniper rifles, and meet the warriors who wielded them. An epic, 4,000-year illustrated volume,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0756654564
• ISBN13: 9780756654566
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: DK Publishing
• Length: 360 Pages
• Weight: 4.35 lbs.

Customer Reviews

DK books have such amazing details

My 7yo son absolutely feel in love with this book & had to look at every single page! The photos are in color & absolutely beautiful & such great details! There's always so much information in DK books & this one definitely does NOT disappoint! Don't get me wrong my 7yo loves it as well as both his father & Grandfather they couldn't believe all of the information they were able to findout. Dont sleep on this one! It's a must have in your historical collection

Great reference

I bought this book as a source book for my D & D games, not only did it meet that goal to perfection but it was actually very interesting and a pleasure to read. The pictures are great and really give you an idea of size and weight. And speaking of weight, most weapons have weights listed. Great book, highly recommended!

This book is VERY well illustrated

I read this book at my public library, and now every time I go there, I just HAVE to read it. It tells the history of weapons like no other book before. The pictures are detailed and the descriptions are very informative yet easy for the smallest child to read. This is NOT one of those books that bores you out after a while. I even stick to the Handgun section, and I read it every time I see it. I'll bet there is no guide to weapons better than this book. Don't just consider it. Make it necessary for long trips.

Excellent Book

I liked this book very much!! The pictures are amazing and I especially loved the fact that they included the weight of the European medieval swords and longswords, which goes further to dispell the myth that these weapons were unwieldy and weighed something like 50 to 100 pounds. The average weight of the Longsword was 3 to 4 pounds. Making it a deadly and effective weapon in the hands of a trained swordsman. Excellent Book !!!!

this is a stunning book, from an extraordinary press.

i just wish someone would buy it for me (i done read it in the store). DK puts out THE most informative and beautifully photographed books on subjects of interest to the layman and children. no patronization. i wish these books had been available, when i was wee. i can't praise it enough, though, occasionally, they leave out some info i'd appreciate knowing (the weight of a chain hauberk, or the like). great stuff. also, the book is large and weighty enough to hit your ignorant dungeons and dragons (tm) coplayers wi'.

4,000 years of weapons on display in ths military museum in a book

The hallmark of the books published by DK is that leafing through one is like looking at a museum. That is certainly true of "Weapon: The Complete Visual History of Arms and Armor," that looks at the 4,000 years history of weaponry. There are hundreds of weapons on display in this 360-page book, and there are dozens of museums and collections thanked for contributing photographs. My son has designs on being a military historian, and this book is going to end up in his collection because I have no doubt he will enjoy the visual treats and historical information contained in this volume. The introduction establishes a series of distinct categories of weaponry: bows, arrows, and spears; axes and clubs; swords and daggers; staff weapons; firearms; and armor and helmets (I am fascinated by the decision to put projectile weapons before clubs, as if there was a reasoned decision that the first weapon was something thrown rather than, as the opening of "2001: A Space Odyssey" so memorably suggests, something used as a club). The development of each category is briefly laid out. For example, Firearms begin with matchlocks and flintlocks before moving to percussion caps, revolvers, brass cartridges, repeater firearms, self-loading firearms, and machine guns. Consequently, the introduction provides both the basic definitions and the basic histories of the various types of weaponry. The rest of the book is divided into five chronological sections: The Ancient World, The Middle Ages, The Early Modern World, The Revolutionary World, and the Modern World. Within each of those sections the chronology there is also due consideration to the different geographical locations, and as the Foreword points out we see interesting similarities between weapons from entirely different cultures and periods. Attention is also paid to how the development of particular weapons escalated the nature of warfare, the ingenuity and creativity of weaponry, and the symbolic significance of some weapons as well. There are descriptions of each weapon along with basic information regarding date, origin, weight, and length, as well as highlighted key features. If you want to know all of the pieces that make up European plate armor or the MP5 Submachine-gun that is the weapon of choice for most of the Western world's police and special forces units, then this is the book for you. There are also special sections scattered throughout the book devoted to Great Warriors from the Greek Hoplite and Roman Legionary to Red Army Infantryman and US Navy SEAL, and Weapon Showcases focusing on key weapons from the Crossbow and Wakazashi Sword to Enfield Rifle-Musket and AK47. Ancient artwork, paintings, and photographs of weapons and soldiers in action are also included as well (e.g., a Norman Attack from the Bayeux Tapestry, a painting of Custer's Last Stand, a photograph of UN Soldiers in Mogadishu, Somalia). So there is ample opportunity here to get a lot closer look at weapons li