Book · 1996 · Gun control
Unintended consequences
- mentions
- 20
- people
- 2
- podcast
- 1
- episodes
- 2
- recommendations
- 0
I mean, I wouldn't say that you should read this book like a history book because that would be that would be wildly inappropriate. However, if you wanted to get like a basic bullet point timeline of things that would be worth further investigation, this book's full of that.
What they say about it
- Comparison to The Turner Diaries“The Turner Diaries”4
- References real history“there's real history in there”3
- Focus on protagonist Henry Bowman“a guy named Henry Bowman”2
The best things said about it
Everyone who's in gun culture is aware of this book.
The overarching plot as I know it is a guy named Henry Bowman who's the protagonist.
There's a lot of problems here obviously, but there's also a lot of stuff in it that's not necessarily incorrect.
Ross is really building a much slower case that is based on real history about the necessity of a revolt against the government.
I I have to say it's probably one of the smarter pieces of uh of of kind of right-wing uh militant like propaganda literature that I've seen. Um, and it is something that if you're not of that ideology, there's even aspects of this that you could enjoy.
Like um if I mean on one on one end you got the Turner Diaries which is like the most vile thing you can think of and then you've got unintended consequences which is much more nuanced and then you had stuff like we're talking about now somewhere in the middle.
Where and when it comes up
Mentions per year
2
18
How it comes up
Why people recommend it
Unintended Consequences is a sprawling and controversial novel written by John Ross that deals with firearms history, government overreach, and radical resistance. On an episode of Behind the Bastards titled Reading: Unintended Consequences, host Robert Evans and guest Karl Kasarda discussed the book at length after Evans received a hardcover copy in the mail from a fan. Kasarda noted that everyone familiar with gun culture was aware of the book, recalling how it used to be sold at gun shows alongside other niche and provocative publications off the counter. Evans observed that the title was not the kind of book one would typically find in a mainstream bookstore like Barnes and Noble. Kasarda described the overarching plot following a protagonist named Henry Bowman, while Evans read the opening passage aloud, which featured the main character preparing to ambush federal agents. Evans critiqued the writing style, conceding that the author was a better writer than figures like Ben Shapiro, though he still found the opening bizarre. Throughout the episode, both speakers analyzed the book's blend of fiction and real historical elements, such as references to the United States versus Miller Supreme Court case. They evaluated the text as a challenging and problematic piece of work that nevertheless incorporated genuine historical grievances, prompting a detailed critical examination of its cultural footprint within the American firearms community.
Every mention
Robert Evans So, I received in the mail from a fan a couple of weeks ago a hardcover copy of a book called unintended co… 15
Discussed
“So, I received in the mail from a fan a couple of weeks ago a hardcover copy of a book called unintended consequences. Now, Sophie, Carl knows this book. Everyone who's in gun culture is aware of this book.”
Discussed
“And this is one of those books you would not have found unintended consequences in like a Barnes & Noble. Like it it wasn't that kind of I mean maybe now you can.”
Discussed
“It was late afternoon when he finally heard them coming to kill him. The wind was blowing gently towards him, and it carried the sound well. Two choppers, he judged from the pitch of the engines, possibly three.”
Discussed
“That's interesting. Like this is this is a a weird opening. I'll give it I'll give one thing to him. He's definitely a better writer than Ben Shapiro. Like already.”
Discussed
“But so it's interesting is this what I was talking is he does get into a lot of actually he does reference a lot of real history like that US versus Miller is that Supreme Court case”
Discussed
“And I've always wondered, did McVey mean he might not have carried out an attack or just that maybe he would have like gone cuz like the stuff Bowman does the Turner diaries obviously like the thing that inspired McVey is they blow up I think it it's literally the Pentagon”
Discussed
“And Ross is really building a much slower case that is based on real history about the necessity of a revolt against the government. Um, and I think it's important that we're like noting the things that he's leaving out, but the choices he's making here are really interesting.”
Discussed
“I mean, I wouldn't say that you should read this book like a history book because that would be that would be wildly inappropriate. However, if you wanted to get like a basic bullet point timeline of things that would be worth further investigation, this book's full of that.”
Critiqued
“So, he's really very kind of directly making a comparison between the Nazis shipping people off to concentration camps and this bootleger going to court over an illegal shortbarreled shotgun. Um, which is definitely like this is the most problematic the book has gotten so far”
Discussed
“And I the next like 40 or so pages of this are really heavily dealing with Irwin man and the the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. We're we're getting into a lot of World War II stuff.”
Discussed
“I I have to say it's probably one of the smarter pieces of uh of of kind of right-wing uh militant like propaganda literature that I've seen. Um, and it is something that if you're not of that ideology, there's even aspects of this that you could enjoy”
Discussed
“Like it's certainly not you're not like I can't think of any lines here that jumped out to me as like particularly artful but nothing like you nothing that made it difficult to read.”
Discussed
“like um if I mean on one on one end you got the Turner Diaries which is like the most vile thing you can think of and then you've got unintended consequences which is much more nuanced and then you had stuff like we're talking about now somewhere in the middle”
Discussed
“The Turner Diaries became the ideological underpinninging of a vicious American insurgency, which eventually led to hundreds and hundreds of armed men around the country working actively towards the establishment of a white supremacist state, a problem that continues to this day. Now, The Turner Diaries inspired more than that, though, because it also inspired a whole new genre of”
Discussed
“And the main innovation from the Turner Diaries and unintended consequences was that it switched the focus of the revolutionaries away from race war and gun rights towards just gun rights. So that was a factor in the Turner Diaries unintended consequences makes it the center of the whole thing. The plot focuses around a guy named Henry Bowman”
Karl Kasarda And right there next to that was this book from John Ross, unintended consequences. And it was like I think… 5
Discussed
“And right there next to that was this book from John Ross, unintended consequences. And it was like I think a lot of people went to the gun show not only for that, but to go pick up those crazy books”
Discussed
“Yeah, I actually I was one of those guys that picked that up off the counter because I'm like, "What the hell is this thing?" Right? And um and I mean the overarching plot as I know it is a guy named Henry Bowman who's the protagonist.”
Discussed
“Well, this is going to be interesting conversation because as I remember in the book, this is a challenging piece of work because there's a lot of problems here obviously, but there's also a lot of stuff in it that's not necessarily incorrect.”
Discussed
“It's um it's a I think I said this earlier, it is um it's it's an it's a very hard book to put into a category because as as we were going through just these 96 pages or whatever, there's real history in there”
Discussed
“Well, I think I think I I think that we only got this far into it does speak to the density of what it is and how complex a topic this book is.”
Also mentioned in the same episodes
Other mentions (1: passing, ad reads, own books)
Passing
“Bert Gummer is a character that fell directly out of unintended consequences. It it it is worth it doesn't really stand out in the movie, but it is worth noting that he and his wife in 30 seconds go from huddling in their basement to making pipe bombs on the roof.”