Praise for Let It Bang

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“RJ Young’s Let It Bang is a penetrating and personal look at America’s gun culture that hits the mark, finding what brings us together as much as what tears us apart.” —Glenn Stout, author of Young Woman and the Sea and series editor of The Best American Sports Writing

 

“It’s easy to stand outside the fray and criticize the gun-hung whites and radical rednecks defending the Second Amendment. It takes real courage to grab a pistol, head to the range, and try to understand where they’re coming from. This is RJ Young’s success with Let It Bang.” —Ben Montgomery, author of Grandma Gatewood’s Walk

 

“In the often muddled debate over gun possession and gun violence, Let It Bang resonates with common sense.” —Charles E. Cobb Jr., author of This Nonviolent Stuff’ll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible

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“We need more books like this: personal, emotional meditations on gun ownership… showing us all the ways in which guns take on meaning for people, and what happens when those meanings collide.” —Pacific Standard

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"Journalist Young explores gun culture in this searing take on race and gun ownership in the U.S. Young recalls his childhood in gun-friendly Mississippi and Florida, and the perception of black youths as being a threat to white America. One of the five most-anticipated memoirs of Fall 2018." —Publishers Weekly

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“I can’t view myself as just a gun owner.  I have to view myself as a black gun owner.” 

—RJ Young, Huffington Post

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"Honest and heartbreaking, Young’s raw account of being a black gun owner in America will mesmerize readers."

—Publishers Weekly

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The 'Young Black Man' Who Reluctantly Became an NRA-Certified Instructor (All Things Considered, NPR)

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Author RJ Young on race and guns (Amanpour & Co. CNN/PBS)

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Black journalist RJ Young explores why guns matter to white Americans (CBC, The Current)

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Gun Ownership: Why It’s Different For Black People (NPR, KERA)