<B>From the floor of American gun shows, a fascinating historical expose of how guns have burrowed into the heart of American democracy.</B><br/><br/><I>"To understand gun talk, I had to understand what America means to millions of ordinary people and how these beliefs shaped their sense of who they are, were, and must remain in the future."</I>from the introduction to <I>Gun Show Nation</I><br/><br/>In this first-of-its-kind archaeology of America's gun culture, progressive cultural historian, critic, and gun owner Joan Burbick takes us on a journey from gun shows to NRA conventions, using firsthand observations and interviews with a wide range of gun owners and gun advocates as a jumping-off point for a fascinating exploration of the rise of the gunfrom Buffalo Bill and the mythology of the frontier to Ronald Reagan, the first sitting president to address the NRA.<br/><br/><I>Gun Show Nation</I> examines the lethal politics of gun ownership, uncovering a powerful, conservative political ideology that places the individual citizen armed with a gun at the bulwark of our democracy.<br/><br/>Talking directly to gun lobby strategists, Burbick reveals the pro-gun movement's deliberate effort to co-opt the language of rights from the civil rights movement to appeal to a disaffected white electorate, crafting a powerful conservative response to liberal efforts to achieve social, economic, and racial justice in the 1960s.<br/><br/>An illuminating examination of how guns have changed and challenged our beliefs in democracy, <I>Gun Show Nation</I> shows us what America looks like from the floor of a gun show.