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Gunpowder

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

Gunpowder Open the full-size image

Contributors

By Jack Kelly

Formats and Prices

Price

$17.99

Price

$22.99 CAD

Format

Format:

  1. Trade Paperback $17.99 $22.99 CAD
  2. ebook $11.99 $15.99 CAD

This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around April 27, 2005. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.

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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.

Genre:

On Sale
Apr 27, 2005
Page Count
272 pages
Publisher
Basic Books
ISBN-13
9780465037223

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Jack Kelly

About the Author

Jack Kelly is both an accomplished novelist and an experienced author of popular history. He writes regularly for American Heritage, and has also written features about the DuPont family’s involvement in the gunpowder industry and the history of fireworks in America. He lives in Milan, New York.

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