Gunpowder: Alchemy, Bombards, and Pyrotechnics : The History of the Explosive That Changed the World

Book Description

From veteran author Jack Kelly, a tour through the turbulent history of one of mankind's most critical inventions-the fiery substance that transformed everything from fireworks in China to warfare in Renaissance Europe and beyond.

When Chinese alchemists fashioned the first manmade explosion sometime during the tenth century, no one could have foreseen its full revolutionary potential. Invented to frighten evil spirits rather than fuel guns or bombs-neither of which had been thought of yet-their simple mixture of saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal went on to make the modern world possible. As word of its explosive properties spread from Asia to Europe, from pyrotechnics to battleships, it paved the way for Western exploration, hastened the end of feudalism and the rise of the nation state, and greased the wheels of the Industrial Revolution.

With dramatic immediacy, novelist and journalist Jack Kelly conveys both the distant time in which the "devil's distillate" rose to conquer the world, and brings to rousing life the eclectic cast of characters who played a role in its epic story, including Michelangelo, Edward III, Vasco da Gama, Cortez, Guy Fawkes, Alfred Nobel, and E.I. DuPont. A must-read for history fans and military buffs alike, Gunpowder brings together a rich terrain of cultures and technological innovations with authoritative research and swashbuckling style.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent book!.......2007-05-03

Finely written, plenty of interesting details, it's a masterpiece not only for those somehow devoted to the field of military history, but also to chemists dealing with the surprising field of energetic materials. Thank you, Jack Kelly!

It Entertains and Instructs... who could want for more?.......2007-01-26

1/25/2007

Jack Kelly, 1949-
Gunpowder -- Alchemy, Bombards, & Pyrotechnics: The History of the Explosive that Changed the World. / Jack Kelly.
New York: Basic Books, 2005. ISBN 0-465-03722-4 (paperback).

Fire speaks to us, says Jack Kelly. Considering that fire is in all liklihood one of the oldest -- if not the oldest -- of mankind's technological inventions, that's not surprising. Mr. Kelly succeeds admirably in keeping the fire metaphor close at hand throughout all 242 pages of his text, from the explosions of burning bamboo -- intended to frighten away the Chinese semi-human shan -- to our present-day nuclear fire.

Along the way, we're treated to a much larger panorama than most of us ever consider. The Chinese, most people are aware, came up with what we term "gunpowder" in the ninth century. They didn't call it gunpowder, of course -- no such thing as a gun -- but it was used as an elixer designed to render the user immortal; the stuff was made of sulfur, saltpeter, and dried honey. Developments were not quick in the orient, but by the early 1400's, China's military was equipped with cannon and individual firearms of a sort.

Gunpowder was to be widely used in Europe, though. While the "cannon" at Crecy and Agincourt may not have been terribly effective, they sounded the death knell for the armored knight / moated castle feudal system. (True, arrows could penetrate plate armor, but an accomplished archer required a lot of training; a soldier could be taught to use a simple firearm -- a matchlock, say -- relatively quickly.) Most of us have some familiarity with the military changes wrought by gunpowder ant its associated firearms, but how many of us know that:

* Christiaan Huygens attempted to devise an internal-combustion 'moteur a explosion' using gunpowder as the fuel. Only an inability to come up with a way to deliver successive charges to the cylinder prevented the actual fabrication of Huygen's engine.
* The proximate cause of the American Revolution could be considered British General Gates' determination to seize all gunpowder in and near Boston. The fights at Lexington and Concord in 1775 were simply the last of a series of raids. (Hmmm... "gun control" through ammunition control... nothing much seems to have changed, has it? One is permitted to cynically hope that the modern-day controllers are no more successful than General Gates.)
* Fulimates and nitrated hydrocarbons (nitrocelulose -- guncotten, and nitroglycerine) were at first developed as substitutes for gunpowder. Their applications were greatly modified, of course: fulminates into the "primers", and the nitro- compounds as components of so-called smokeless powder.

There's a lot to like in this book, and not much to dislike. The proofreading appears to have been exemplary: there are no glaring spelling arrors, misplaced paragraphs, orphaned sentences, or similar horrors to be found. The illustrations, a mixture of photgraphs, line drawings, and reproductions of what appear to be woodcuts, nicely compliment the text. One point which is at most, a minor annoyance: projectile speeds given in miles per hour jar a bit when one is used to thinking in terms of feet per second. (Yes, it's easy enough to multiply MPH by 1.47 to get FPS; even 1.5 is pretty close.)

The major strength of this volume is, however, the mixture: it's not a technical treatise, nor a chemical text, nor a tactical manual, nor a governmental history, nor yet a philosophical tract. It's all of these; literally, how gunpowder changed the world... the whole world. Jack Kelly has succeeded in fulfilling the promise of his title, and carries us along quite merrily, all the way through to the end. In our present day, he observes that gunpwder, its thousand-year history notwithstanding, has been largely relegated to two of its earliest uses: celebrations and entertainment.

Mr. Kelly thoughtfully supplies an informal "sources consulted" style bibliography, organized by chapter, and a working index, both of which are very welcome, indeed.

Dane.......2005-10-11

The book is informative but lacks foot notes. The author says it is because it is a popular history not a scholarly work. However foot notes would have made this a great book as is it is simply a good starting place.

Excellent overview.......2005-09-01

Jack Kelly has written an easy-to-read overview of the evolution of gunpowder development and use from its invention at the turn of the first millennium until it was replaced by synthetics in the 19th century. In fact, synthetics so thoroughly replaced gunpowder that what was once gunpowder is differentiated from its replacements by the term "black powder" while synthetics have taken over the germ gunpowder.

Beginning with its invention and use by the Chinese, who first used gunpowder in an early version of (ineffective) hand grenades, through its first effective use in bombards in Europe, until it became the staple for small arms in the early modern period of history Kelly presents an interesting narrative history on how gunpowder impacted the world. Although there is a technological deterministic aspect to the book (a natural result of the subject) the book does do a good job of putting gunpowder into context - in some cases gunpowder drives further military developments, in others the refinement of gunpowder is driven by other needs. This book is especially interesting if you have any interest in the concept of "military revolution." It focuses on one type of tool over a 900 year period, which allows you to see how one technology evolved, and was integrated into the transformation of war, over a significant period of time.

Great intro to history, science and technology.......2005-01-22

Gunpowder: Alchemy, Bombards, & Pyrotechnics: The History of the Explosive that Changed the World, by Jack Kelly, Basic Books, NY, 2004. Kelly had done a very nice job with this crisp, well written history of gunpowder. He covers the subject nicely, in survey fashion, but with some detailed stories. There's history, technology, and science-all in fine factual detail but for the general audience. The chemistry, mathematics, metallurgy, and physics are there, but not in rigorous detail. Just enough to whet the appetite for further study. References are included for each chapter, though footnotes are lacking.

A detailed study of the history of gunpowder and related technologies could have gone on for thousands of pages. The author has selected certain stories for focus. He begins in China, and tells especially the European story, and the use of firearms in battle, on land and at sea. He includes some stories from America including the Revolutionary War, the story of Samuel Colt, and the Dupont story of gunpowder. He ends with development of the A-bomb, but really coverage ends at the beginning of the Twentieth Century with smokeless powder. There is no mention of lead mining or the famous shot towers. Kelly covers the abundance of saltpeter in the warm climate of China, its general shortage in Europe, and the extensive efforts to collect and extract it in Britain and France. But there is no mention of the Nobel Prize winning Borne-Haber process, invented in World War I in Germany, that resolved the nitrate shortage by making synthetic nitric acid from air and fossil fuels (natural gas, naphtha, coal), as is still practiced today.

The book is highly readable and will be appreciated by those interested in history, science, and technology. Index.

Gunpowder: Alchemy, Bombards, and Pyrotechnics : The History of the Explosive That Changed the World

Average customer rating:

A GOOD FLAWED NARRATIVE
moderately interesting
Well written but faulty

Gunpowder: Alchemy, Bombards, and Pyrotechnics : The History of the Explosive That Changed the World
Jack Kelly
Manufacturer: Basic Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0465037224
Release Date: 2005-04-26

Book Description

With dramatic immediacy, novelist and journalist Jack Kelly conveys both the distant time in which the "devil's distillate" rose to conquer the world, and brings to rousing life the eclectic cast of characters who played a role in its epic story, including Michelangelo, Edward III, Vasco da Gama, CortŽs, Guy Fawkes, Alfred Nobel, and E. I. DuPont. A must-read for history fans and military buffs alike, Gunpowder brings together a rich terrain of cultures and technological innovations with authoritative research and swashbuckling style.

Customer Reviews:

A GOOD FLAWED NARRATIVE.......2006-06-13

Reading the other reviews here one would get the impression that Kelly is guilty of some serious flaws in his work. I would think that people like Noman OOOO (reviewer below) is actually guilty of some seriously flawed expectations. (I shall not deal with his expectations of history being amoral -- anyone who writes some rubbish like that has clearly not read any history -- as a quick glance of his book reviews proves: he seems adept on reviews of fantasy books! His moral observations are equally fantastic).

So let's deal with Kelly. He is not a serious student of Gunpowder. He is a narrative historian writing something that should be interesting and enlightening. This he accomplishes admirably. His style and the events he decides to focus upon are very largely wholely subjective. Obviously events like Crecy and the Fall of Constanstinople are pivotal, but other events he describes -- especially his rather American perspective on the importance of the American War of Independence and Civil War -- are wholly his own preference. However he held my interest very well during the whole narrative and I wholly enjoyed his very literate writing style.

It is also of note what Kelly leaves out: there is no description for the British Arms industry; Armstrong-Vickers almost certainly had a greater influence on the development of arms and gunpowder. And that also highlights another "flaw" of this book -- there is a confusion between it being a history of arms and a history of gunpowder.

But all in all what Kelly does write about his writes with flair, heightened tension and he is a very good stylist. I bought it for the airplane and I blitzed through it in about 6 hours. A good read. Is there any higher recommendation...?

moderately interesting.......2006-06-13

A pleasent bit of fluff. seriously marred by the authors 'moral' interjections about those nasty old soldiers or duelists. Note to author: real historians know better (or they should) than to overlay their perjudices, bigotry and moralistic values on another age. :)
a pleasant read, but don't pay full price.

Try:
The Gun and its Development: Ninth Edition
by W. W. Greener

The Spanish Bride
by Georgette Heyer (fiction, based on diaries of the period. gives a nice overview of the Napoleonic wars)

Bow Versus Gun
by John Smythe

Gunpowder and Galleys: Changing Technology and Mediterranean Warfare at Sea in the 16th Century, Revised Edition
by John Francis Guilmartin

Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe : Gunpowder, Technology, and Tactics (Johns Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology)
by Bert S. Hall

Well written but faulty.......2005-11-25

Jack Kelly is a weak on the origins of gunpowder. While the book is well documented with more `recent' history, Kelly's use of medieval sources is somewhat lacking.
It is now accepted that gunpowder was invented at around 850AD during the Tang Dynasty in China, and about a hundred years later, it was applied to Chinese flamethrowers and rocket arrows. At the same time, grenades, bombs and rockets with explosive warhead (ancestor of the modern missile) were developed, and their large-scale use was recorded when the Song Dynasty Chinese fought the Mongols. Chinese sources indicate a steel tube device that shot out a metal ball, first example of a gun, was invented around 1250, while a larger version (the cannon) appeared at around 1288. While it is known that much of the knowledge on gunpowder and firearms were transferred to Europe in the subsequent centuries, details on how it was transferred and technologies that were invented independently in the west certainly make very interesting reading, and areas that deserve further research and assessment.

Book Description

Kaplan's AP U.S. History 2004 Edition comes complete with a targeted review of U.S. history, two full-length practice tests, plus proven test-taking strategies. This winning combination makes AP U.S. History 2004 Edition a powerful tool to help you score higher. You'll get:

Two full-length practice tests with complete explanations for every question
In-depth coverage of the material on the exam
Review of essential terms, significant people, and notable events -- and the important connections between them
Powerful strategies to help you take control and succeed on the exam

Customer Reviews:

A great study guide for anyone.......2004-10-29

I used this book to review for the AP U.S. History exam in 2004. The review that the book gives in the beginning of each chapter is well-selected, and the practice questions asked in the book are of a very similar nature to those on the actual test. Also, I found the full-length practice tests in the back to be a very good indicator of how I'd do on the exam. I'd recommend this book to anyone looking to take this AP exam; it is very versatile. There is no set method as to how to use this book, so it will complement almost any learning style.

Kaplan AP World History 2004 (Kaplan AP World History)

Average customer rating:

Great Book!
Princeton Review or Kaplan

Kaplan AP World History 2004 (Kaplan AP World History)
Kaplan
Manufacturer: Kaplan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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5 Steps to a 5 AP World History (5 Steps to a 5)

ASIN: 0743252098

Customer Reviews:

Great Book!.......2004-05-05

This book was excellent as a review source for the AP U.S. History test because of the innumerable facts and clearly formulated essay responses that were present on every page of this book. Truly a wonderful tool for studying, all important material is covered and each key term is fuly explained in depth with only the pertinent info included. Buy this book for the test, definetly better than Cliffsnotes.

Princeton Review or Kaplan.......2004-04-04

as a current AP U.S. History student, i was trying to find the best study guide for the corse. Is it Princeton Review or Kaplan. That's a tough question and they are both different but equally helpful. It really does't matter which you buy. If you like history put into a "story" then go for PR. but if you learn better with material broken up, then go for Kaplan.

Book Description

Phillip E. Johnson has been called "our age's clearest thinker on evolution" and the "principal lay critic of Darwinism." Indeed, some of his most persuasive writing has been penned in opposition to the sacred cow of modern secularism. Here, for the first time, are collected several of Johnson's pithiest essays attacking the idolatry of Darwin.Here also, however, are his stimulating thoughts on a wide variety of other topics, including "pop" science, religious freedom, American pragmatism, Paul Feyerabend, Winston Churchill, postmodernism and natural law.If you have read and appreciated Johnson's previous books, you'll enjoy this gathering of his finest work written for magazines and journals. Even if you haven't read Johnson before, though, Objections Sustained will be an excellent introduction to a thinker who has become one of the foremost cultural critics of our day.

Customer Reviews:

Social Commentary on Evolution by an Accomplished Scholar.......2006-06-22

Objections Sustained is a collection of essays by UC Berkeley law professor Phillip Johnson. In the first half of the book, Johnson presents nine short chapters about Darwinists and Darwinism. Johnson first takes aim at the myth that science and religion occupy completely separate realms. This myth, formally approved for public consumption by the National Academy of Sciences, is refuted by famous proponents of Darwinism like Thomas H. Huxley, who viewed Darwinism as the antidote to letting the "Divine foot in the door."

Johnson also recounts other fascinating anecdotes from the history of the evolution debate. In 1995, the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) formally adopted a definition of evolution, which left it "unsupervised," implying that well, evolution was "unsupervised." This anti-religious definition left evolution exposed as a theory charged with implications for religion. Protestations from religious scholars went unanswered, until Eugenie Scott charged in to save the day by convincing the NABT to revise its language. The word "unsupervised" was removed from the definition, but as Johnson observes, "nothing was changed." Johnson also has his finger on the pulse of in-house debates among top Darwinists. Stephen Jay Gould and his punctuationalists are in a mud-slinging war the ultra-Darwinists who follow Richard Dawkins. They can't agree on how evolution happened, but they're sure it did. Moreover, amidst their name-calling, they agree that words must be kept light lest they fuel the fire for creationist criticism.

The second half provides various essays on topics related to books, culture, and law. Johnson, who was a clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren, explains how Darwinism-based law is trying to make religion irrelevant to our culture by consigning faith to the realm of fantasy. The wit of professor Johnson is only outpaced by his experience, insight, and scholarship in this fascinating and diverse collection of short commentaries.

The rest of the story.......2006-02-13

Scientific Materialism is being assaulted by the very substance it allegedly holds dear, truth. It is interesting how "truth" is supported by dogma and emotional outbursts bordering on insane ranting,

Likewise it is indicative of the death throws of a dying World View based upon false hypothesis, when supporters of that view deem it necessary to "stuff the ballot box" of reputable book stores such as Amazon; 8 of 17 reviews at one star?

Do alternative opinions and the mere possibility that Scientific Materialism cannot stand the scrutiny of its own community frighten you so?

Please be realistic about science........2005-12-31

A friend of mine works for an petrochemical exploration company. They specialize in determining potential locations of oil deposits by drilling cores into layers of sedimentary deposits and looking at the evolutionary sequences of micro-fossils which were accumulated millions of years ago on ancient sea-floors. Oil (and coal) deposits formed when decaying plant matter became buried under sediments and underwent subsequent chemical alteration. The plant material requires millions of years to be converted into oil or coal. (They're called fossil fuel for a reason, you know.) When you analyze a drill core sample, and if you find particular micro-fossils of species that only lived during a certain geological age that corresponds to the age when oil deposits formed, then you might be in an area where oil can be found. Her company gets contacts from huge oil companies to help them make multi-billion dollar decisions on where to drill for oil based partly on the information obtained by looking at micro-fossils. Oil companies have been doing this for decades. Don't believe me. Find out for yourself. Search the internet for websites about oil exploration micropaleontology. Next time you fill your tank, consider the role evolution played in both the creation and the discovery of the gas you're pumping into your car. I own stock in the company my friend works for and have made some nice returns on it.

I also have a relative who works for a medical research institute that uses DNA analysis to find out how viruses and genetic defects cause disease. He's working on therapies for several types of cancer. They use genetic mutations and evolutionary histories of diseases to understand how cells, viruses and diseases operate. They've already had success with some drugs and I've made money off of a drug company's stock as a result. The science is way over my head. However, based on the logic of this book, you have to conclude that genetic mutations can't be studied with any certainty because it seems they can occur only if and when God wants them to. I don't know how I'll be able to break it to him but I guess someone will have to tell him that his research is simply a waste of time. I know that seems at odds with the fact I've made money off the stock market . . . but Phillip Johnson wants me to have an open mind after all, and, let's face it, he's so much smarter than these people.

I can't imagine how insulting it must be to intelligent, dedicated, highly educated, hard working, honest, professional people like these, who use the principles of evolution in their day to day work, in billion dollar industries, for them to hear people say that evolution didn't happen or that it is just an ideology. (I should sell the stock in these companies soon, before they crash when word gets out that evolution is a myth.) Folks, there is a tremendous amount of information supporting evolution. In all honesty, it is downright silly to contend at this point that living things have not evolved over the eons. It is simply a fact of life. It is not a religious belief or an opinion. I urge you to truly inform yourselves about evolution from sources other than creationists or IDers or whatever they call themselves. Look at the depth and detail of information supporting evolution. There are many websites about it. Check them out. Look at some professional research journals on subjects related to biology, geology, palenotology, etc. Ask yourself, "Can this tremendous amount of detailed information accumulated by researchers for hundreds of years really be fake or incorrect?" "Are all the thousands of highly intelligent, highly educated people around the world who are currently conducting research on evolution, as well as those using it in their daily work, all wrong?" "Would scientists at the most prestigious universities in the world really deliberately lie about this?" "Why would they risk being caught in a lie and ruin their professional careers?" Please, be realistic about science. And, by the way, you can be Christian and fully accept evolution. I do. So do the friend and relative I mentioned above. Of course, I guess we're just closed-minded.

Unconvincing.......2005-12-24

It's actually a very simple question.

Science is about making deductions from factual evidence. It has no means of explaining anything that is supernatural.

However, religion requires the belief in supernatural forces and at least one supernatural being.

That DOES NOT mean religion is wrong, it just means it is a different subject matter than science and therefore DOES NOT belong in a science classroom.

You wouldn't expect English literature, music, history and other such subjects to be taught in a science classroom. Neither should religious beliefs. I, for one, am perfectly happy to have my religious beliefs kept out of science classrooms. I don't need science to tell me there is a God. I don't need - or want - my religious beliefs to force science to be conducted in a certain way. Quite frankly, anyone who feel that the honest teaching of science is a threat to their religious beliefs is someone who has great doubts about their religious beliefs!

Weird logic........2005-12-22

What is the job of a scientist? To investigate and obtain new facts using observation and experimentation and to then draw reasoned, logical deductions based on the results of all the evidence they obtain, even if the result does not support a position they may have initially held prior to their investigation.

What is the job of a lawyer? To win a case or argument for a client, regardless of where all the facts may actually lead by picking and choosing only the evidence that supports his client's position and to denigrate any evidence that does not support their case.

Where creationist/IDers fail is assuming that advances in science come about from "winning" a "case". Well, that isn't how it works. Evidence may be disallowed in a courtroom but not in a science lab. Scientists do not pick and choose only the evidence that supports a certain predetermined outcome. A ranting and raving over-emotional presentation may be tolerated in a court room but has no place in scientific reporting. The acceptance of a scientific finding is not about convincing a "jury" of common citizens, or a judge in a court of law, to vote a certain way. It's about evaluating ALL evidence obtained in a scientific investigation to reach a logical conclusion and to report it to highly educated experts in that field of study for their review.

Books like this are entertaining for those who hold the views of the author but they have little to do with how science operates. You can spend years pointing out aspects of evolution that scientists have yet to find answers for. Fine. All the details have not yet been uncovered and some never will be. That's the nature of the business. The point of science is to keep on investigating and finding out. But please, just don't propose that your religious views be considered equivalent to scientific thought. That is ignorant, insulting and disrespectful to those who do not hold your religious views.

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