The first chapter opens up with the infamous 1986 Miami FBI gunfight. Barrett sheds details of the rise of the “wonder nines” and the demise of the service revolver in American policing. Coupled with the young company’s competitive pricing and proactive sales tactics, the timing for the Glock’s entry into the handgun market could not have been better either."Competitive pricing and proactive sales tactics" is such...diplomatic phrasing.
It was interesting to see his take on it and caused me to go back and reread my old review.
The book is a combination of investigative business journalism, and Margaret Mead-esque anthropology, as Barrett turns his outsider's eyes on familiar names, spending time with Massad Ayoob and interviewing Dean Speir. As with any investigative journalism, the book rakes muck, and Glock is a company with plenty of muck to rake: Lawsuits, accusations of shady business practices, executives for which "colorful" would be a charitable description... even a strip club scandal.I'd forgotten that the book's author popped up in the comments section of that post back in 2012.
All in all, though, I have to hand it to Mr. Barrett. He claimed he was going to write an even-handed portrayal, and he did. (And I'm not just saying that because I have a tiny, off-screen part: I laughed out loud when he mentioned that Dean Speir was "banished" from GlockTalk.) If you want the warts-and-all story of how Glock went from nowhere to being the 800lb gorilla of the handgun world, you should read this book.
