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 highly anticipated book by David Yamane, a nationally recognized authority on the subject, does something truly remarkable: it promotes insight over animosity in understanding the complex reality of guns in America. Gun Curious challenges firearms skeptics, entertains enthusiasts, and informs the uncommitted by taking readers on a surprising journey inside gun culture in a way no book has.

A lifelong liberal from the San Francisco Bay Area, Yamane became a new gun owner as a forty-two-year-old and embarked on an immersive twelve-year study of American gun culture. Gun Curious brilliantly weaves together his personal experiences and sociological observations to explain why guns make sense to those who own them. Yamane illuminates defensive gun ownership, the risk of negative outcomes associated with firearms, and what responsible gun ownership looks like in the twenty-first century.

Wide-ranging and highly readable, Gun Curious lowers the heat on America’s inflamed arguments about firearms and models the civil discussions we desperately need right now. If you’re ready for more light and less heat, Gun Curious is for you.