Colin Dickey, author of Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places and other excellent books, has penned an insightful review of American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15 for The New Republic. He wrote: "It’s a classic American tale not just because of [inventor Eugene] Stoner’s determination, but also because of the tides of graft and grifting that helped the gun’s rise to fame." He added: "Reading the second half of American Gun is like watching a Shakespearean tragedy: You witness a whole culture gradually slipping away to unstoppable forces of capitalism, greed, and destruction, with an ever-rising body count in their wake."