David Yamane: Gun Curious

Best Part of the Book

Host Mark Perzel has a conversation with David Yamane, author of Gun Curious, as he shares his personal experience and exploration of America's complicated gun culture and offers valuable perspectives on the reasons behind firearms ownership while addressing the issues and concerns associated with gun violence.

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Receive a 25% discount on Gun Curious with coupon code BESTPART on McFarland's website: www.mcfarlandbooks.com/product/gun-curious/

BOOK & DESCRIPTION

Gun Curious: A Liberal Professor’s Surprising Journey Inside America’s Gun Culture, Exposit Books, an imprint of McFarland, softcover (June 2024) - www.mcfarlandbooks.com/product/gun-curious/

More than ever, it feels like cultural and political divisions over firearms are tearing the United States apart. Guns are an undeniable and contradictory presence in America, both widely owned and controversial. This book does something remarkable: it promotes insight over animosity in understanding the complex reality of guns in America. It challenges firearms skeptics, entertains enthusiasts, and informs the uncommitted by taking readers on a surprising journey inside gun culture.

A lifelong liberal from the San Francisco Bay Area, David Yamane became a new gun owner as a 42-year-old and embarked on an immersive twelve-year study of American gun culture. Weaving together his personal experiences and sociological observations to explain why guns make sense to those who own them, he illuminates defensive gun ownership, the risk of negative outcomes associated with firearms, and what responsible gun ownership looks like in the twenty-first century. This book lowers the heat on America’s inflamed arguments about firearms and models the civil discussions we desperately need.

ABOUT DAVID

David Yamane is a Professor of Sociology at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He earned his BA (’91) in sociology from the University of California at Berkeley and his MS (’94) and PhD (’98) in sociology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. After teaching at the University of Notre Dame and holding a post-doc at the University of Virginia’s Center on Religion and Democracy, he joined the faculty at Wake Forest in 2005.

Since 2011, Professor Yamane has become an internationally recognized scholarly authority on guns and a calming voice in our divisive national argument on the issue. An Asian American and lifelong liberal from the San Francisco Bay Area, Yamane became a first-time gun owner as a 42-year-old and began a 12-year journey into the complex world of firearms in America. Having one foot outside and one inside gun culture allows him to speak with compassion across our paralyzing differences.

FOLLOW DAVID

• Book website: www.guncurios.com
• Personal website: www.DavidYamane.com
• YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@LightOverHeat
• Twitter/X: www.twitter.com/davidyamane
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/davidyamane