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Monstrous Anger of the Guns: How the Global Arms Trade is Ruining the World and What We Can Do About It
304 pages, Paperback
Published August 20, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 3, 2024
Ok, I was already sold when I saw this new book "Monstrous Anger of the Guns" (Pluto, 2024) includes a foreword by Jeremy Corbyn 🫶 who is the most inspiring real-life politician and one of the few in power who are unapologetically anti-war and anti-imperialist (sorry, Bernie), it's still killing me to think how close he came to leading the UK and what this could have meant, for sure the war in Ukraine wouldn't be what it is today and for sure Gaza wouldn't have happened on JC's watch or not with British weapons to say the least. The way JC was taken down by his own party (as was Bernie) just shows how sincere he was in terms of challenging the status quo.
Cute - I still haven't moved on, have I? I think it's the US election cycle that triggers the political trauma of the 2010s.
Anyhow, this book is a great - and important- collection of essays on various aspects of the 2.1 trillion $ (2022) global arms industry which accounts on average for 500k death per year and 40% of corruption of global trade.
Chapter 1 is a great overview of the main actors and figures, while it's quite secretive and in the shadows it's a massive industry, probably reaching 2.5 trillion $ this year (thanks to Ukraine and Gaza).
I particularly enjoyed Chapter 2 by Vijay Prashad which provides a deep dive into the
military industrial academic bureaucratic complex. Prashad unpacks the arms industry within a political economy of foreign policy/ international relations framework which is, for Marxists, 'imperialism' (I frankly don't know what framework liberals work off - globalization? Is this it? Adorable!).
This chapter touches upon something that is very under appreciated and which is a crucial piece to make sense of the currents wars: the role of the arms industries in NATO eastward expansion. I know it's not a popular subject and sounds like a conspiracy theory (it's not). When in the 1990s with the USSR gone there was little reason to maintain NATO, Lockheed and other arms manufacturers formed the 'Committee to Expand NATO' which lobbied US Congress to extens the borders into eastern europe simply because they wanted to sell Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic weapons (with US embassies acting as lobby firms). Bruce Jackson, Lockheed's Vice President for Intl Operations, chaired the US committee to expand NATO (Lockheed sold 3.8 billion worth of F16 to Poland, much more since then and F16s were also given to Ukraine, some have already arrived). There are many books on post Cold War NATO, including the web of very powerful transatlantic think tanks, lobby groups and media Dick Cheney became the CEO of Haliburton that netted 40 billiob in contracts in Iraq - a war that was started based on Cheney's famous lie, again not even a conspiracy theory although it would make a great one!
Prashad also points out how militarized diplomacy has become: the budget of the US State Department is 0.084 % of the US military, diplomatic corps has become the secretarial service for the US armed forces. Similarly, the global military expenditure is 2 trillion; while the total UN budget is 3 billion.
Prashad puts is quite poignantly: arms companies in the UN Security Council countries dominate the world system, not only in terms of extracting surplus wealth but through their commanding role over international institutions. Great chapter which makes me want to read so much more on this.
Also on hegemonic ideology:
"Much of what passes for debate about the arms trade assumes the legitimacy of the US-led international order and internalizes its geopolitical and security concerns, especially the 'rise of china and aggression and revanchism of Russia'
Chapter 3 is a good - but painful - read on 'The Palestine Labratory' and how Israel, the 10th biggest arms exporters in the world (exporting weapons, surveillance equipment and repressive tech to 140 countries around the globe) is using Palestine to battletest the most sophisticated forms of inflicting death and injury and monitoring success rates for potential global clients. We've seen a lot of news on the use of new robots and AI in the post 7 October Gaza war.
Chapter 4 on Militarism and the Climate Emergency is very important (but sadly my heart's not in it. Like animal rights and gender stuff. Lol, it's only ever class, class, class and fucking wars with this woman!
Few facts: Wars account for 5.5 % of total carbon emissions from human activities (direct impacts only - not counting the impact of war). Of course, there are also wars over fossil fuels and other minerals and of course increasing fighting over scarce resources such as water. It's all linked, innit.
Military spending versus climate change spending: 620 billion spent on climate change, (gap of 1.4 trillion USD as per Paris climate agreement) versus global military spending of 2 trillion USD. Go figure.
Then follow some chapters on the human costs of arms trade in Gaza, Yemen, and East Africa,
Part III is equally depressing and uplifting: on anti-war movements, including the Stop the war coalition (chaired by Corbyb for a few years )in the UK which also helped bring about the demise of Blair (Chapter 10) and Direct Action (Palestine Action)against Elbit Systems - Israel's largest arms firms in the UK.
This part includes very inspiring and interesting examples of student and workers organizations taking action against the global arms trade, including: Belgian transport unions boycotted arms exportd to Israel, followed by port workers in Barcelona; railroad workers stopped transport of US weapons to Ukraine, among others.
Other forms of organized resistance includes Strategic Litigation against the Global Arms Trade based on the 2014 Arms Trade Treaty (
Uplifting also as just yesterday Britain suspended weapons exports to Israel citing “a clear risk” that the arms might be used in “serious violation of international humanitarian law.” These things don't happen without organized pressure from civil society groups.
Overall, the book is a great, timely and important project. While militarism is at an all time high, publications like these are important to create awareness that in matters of war, the good old rule 'follow the money' applies then and now. We are being tricked into supporting wars (usually in the names of freedom and human rights) to advance elite interests. The only way out is to insist on the primacy of peace and diplomacy.
Cute - I still haven't moved on, have I? I think it's the US election cycle that triggers the political trauma of the 2010s.
Anyhow, this book is a great - and important- collection of essays on various aspects of the 2.1 trillion $ (2022) global arms industry which accounts on average for 500k death per year and 40% of corruption of global trade.
Chapter 1 is a great overview of the main actors and figures, while it's quite secretive and in the shadows it's a massive industry, probably reaching 2.5 trillion $ this year (thanks to Ukraine and Gaza).
I particularly enjoyed Chapter 2 by Vijay Prashad which provides a deep dive into the
military industrial academic bureaucratic complex. Prashad unpacks the arms industry within a political economy of foreign policy/ international relations framework which is, for Marxists, 'imperialism' (I frankly don't know what framework liberals work off - globalization? Is this it? Adorable!).
This chapter touches upon something that is very under appreciated and which is a crucial piece to make sense of the currents wars: the role of the arms industries in NATO eastward expansion. I know it's not a popular subject and sounds like a conspiracy theory (it's not). When in the 1990s with the USSR gone there was little reason to maintain NATO, Lockheed and other arms manufacturers formed the 'Committee to Expand NATO' which lobbied US Congress to extens the borders into eastern europe simply because they wanted to sell Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic weapons (with US embassies acting as lobby firms). Bruce Jackson, Lockheed's Vice President for Intl Operations, chaired the US committee to expand NATO (Lockheed sold 3.8 billion worth of F16 to Poland, much more since then and F16s were also given to Ukraine, some have already arrived). There are many books on post Cold War NATO, including the web of very powerful transatlantic think tanks, lobby groups and media Dick Cheney became the CEO of Haliburton that netted 40 billiob in contracts in Iraq - a war that was started based on Cheney's famous lie, again not even a conspiracy theory although it would make a great one!
Prashad also points out how militarized diplomacy has become: the budget of the US State Department is 0.084 % of the US military, diplomatic corps has become the secretarial service for the US armed forces. Similarly, the global military expenditure is 2 trillion; while the total UN budget is 3 billion.
Prashad puts is quite poignantly: arms companies in the UN Security Council countries dominate the world system, not only in terms of extracting surplus wealth but through their commanding role over international institutions. Great chapter which makes me want to read so much more on this.
Also on hegemonic ideology:
"Much of what passes for debate about the arms trade assumes the legitimacy of the US-led international order and internalizes its geopolitical and security concerns, especially the 'rise of china and aggression and revanchism of Russia'
Chapter 3 is a good - but painful - read on 'The Palestine Labratory' and how Israel, the 10th biggest arms exporters in the world (exporting weapons, surveillance equipment and repressive tech to 140 countries around the globe) is using Palestine to battletest the most sophisticated forms of inflicting death and injury and monitoring success rates for potential global clients. We've seen a lot of news on the use of new robots and AI in the post 7 October Gaza war.
Chapter 4 on Militarism and the Climate Emergency is very important (but sadly my heart's not in it. Like animal rights and gender stuff. Lol, it's only ever class, class, class and fucking wars with this woman!
Few facts: Wars account for 5.5 % of total carbon emissions from human activities (direct impacts only - not counting the impact of war). Of course, there are also wars over fossil fuels and other minerals and of course increasing fighting over scarce resources such as water. It's all linked, innit.
Military spending versus climate change spending: 620 billion spent on climate change, (gap of 1.4 trillion USD as per Paris climate agreement) versus global military spending of 2 trillion USD. Go figure.
Then follow some chapters on the human costs of arms trade in Gaza, Yemen, and East Africa,
Part III is equally depressing and uplifting: on anti-war movements, including the Stop the war coalition (chaired by Corbyb for a few years )in the UK which also helped bring about the demise of Blair (Chapter 10) and Direct Action (Palestine Action)against Elbit Systems - Israel's largest arms firms in the UK.
This part includes very inspiring and interesting examples of student and workers organizations taking action against the global arms trade, including: Belgian transport unions boycotted arms exportd to Israel, followed by port workers in Barcelona; railroad workers stopped transport of US weapons to Ukraine, among others.
Other forms of organized resistance includes Strategic Litigation against the Global Arms Trade based on the 2014 Arms Trade Treaty (
Uplifting also as just yesterday Britain suspended weapons exports to Israel citing “a clear risk” that the arms might be used in “serious violation of international humanitarian law.” These things don't happen without organized pressure from civil society groups.
Overall, the book is a great, timely and important project. While militarism is at an all time high, publications like these are important to create awareness that in matters of war, the good old rule 'follow the money' applies then and now. We are being tricked into supporting wars (usually in the names of freedom and human rights) to advance elite interests. The only way out is to insist on the primacy of peace and diplomacy.
July 17, 2025
10/5 - zarówno za to jaka jest dobra, jak i za stan wkurwienia w jakim zostawia.
December 29, 2024
What a great book. Each chapter highlights very well how the global arms trade operates in our world and the disastrous effects it has on people, society and culture. I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone!
March 13, 2025
An excellent introduction and overview of the global arms trade. Looking forward to discussing it with Jeremy Corbyn in three days.
June 24, 2025
Very interesting read! Timely with today's heated and ongoing wars frenzy. An eye-opening read to know just how dirty,corrupt and unscrupulous our governments and the military industrial complex are, making tons of profits out of wars and invasions, testing and developing new military tech and weapons on the ruins of a country and major deaths and sufferings of a million people is simply disgusting! Highly recommended read as it is a timely and urgent read at this time! the book's publisher Pluto Press is giving a free-acess to the ebook version of this book Now! so don't waste it! I am thinking of sharing more about this book later on just to show how urgent and timely this book is!
January 18, 2026
A truly thoughtful read on the holistic, intersectional nature of the violent arms trade. I don't have much knowledge on it, so I really wanted to learn. These series of essays delve into the true ugliness that comes with the arms trade, and how it exists on every level, seeping into every member of society... from the small arms that are handed to disillusioned members of over-exploited nations, to groups such as Palestine Action explaining their approach to actively taking down Elbit Systems from the ground.
I was quite lucky to have been introduced to this book following the Bristolian leg of the book tour in March 2025. It featured a panel consisting of an acclaimed peer and climate campaigner Tori Tsui, to a couple of contributing authors, such as Lindsey German and Jeremy Corbyn. I would highly recommend reading this, especially in light of these trying times.
I was quite lucky to have been introduced to this book following the Bristolian leg of the book tour in March 2025. It featured a panel consisting of an acclaimed peer and climate campaigner Tori Tsui, to a couple of contributing authors, such as Lindsey German and Jeremy Corbyn. I would highly recommend reading this, especially in light of these trying times.
December 12, 2025
Shocking yet at the same time not surprising, this is an eye-opening book. Written in short digestible chapters (except maybe the strategic litigation one, which was a bit of a challenge!), I think it should be widely read. At times it feels a bit defensive of some of the actions taken and some of the opinions can come across as quite forceful, but this is totally understandable given the nature of the topic. I absolutely recommend to anyone looking to learn more about the arms industry and how it is enabled to proliferate.
January 26, 2025
Very informative book covering the Arms Trade in various areas of the world. Not all are in the news headlines.
February 18, 2025
Urgent explainer of how we (US citizens) are complicit in mass mulling around the world.
June 28, 2025
Very informative, a book everyone should read.
October 20, 2025
Bitty. Contains disappointingly little information about the actual arms trade rather than the harm resulting. Thus several chapters basically sum up as 'war is bad' (who knew!). Chapters on the opposition to the trade are marginally better but the book as a whole is poor.
February 13, 2025
Profound and informative exposure of the effect of war on all of our lives.
The overall knowledge and ensuing exposure of how the arms trade is so powerful in our present day world is horrifying. How it’s very existence is now consuming all societies throughout the world, through its control of wealth and governments is particularly harrowing. This book is a brilliant compilation of voices from different organisations and individuals all with one focus - to stop the arms industry and start building peace,
The overall knowledge and ensuing exposure of how the arms trade is so powerful in our present day world is horrifying. How it’s very existence is now consuming all societies throughout the world, through its control of wealth and governments is particularly harrowing. This book is a brilliant compilation of voices from different organisations and individuals all with one focus - to stop the arms industry and start building peace,
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews