46 books like Tear Gas

By Anna Feigenbaum,

Here are 46 books that Tear Gas fans have personally recommended if you like Tear Gas. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Among the Thugs

Zachary M. Schrag Author Of The Fires of Philadelphia: Citizen-Soldiers, Nativists, and the 1844 Riots Over the Soul of a Nation

From my list on mob violence.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am fortunate not to have witnessed any major riots myself; the worst I’ve endured was a 1993 street fight in Moscow between parading Communists and the police, with bricks on one side and clubs and water cannon on the other. But even a relatively gentle protest march that draws a police response can be an astonishing spectacle, transforming a familiar, modern city into a medieval battlefield of massed crowds confronting armored men on horseback. And I am fascinated by the place of crowd actions in democratic societies. The right to assemble is embedded in our constitution, but there’s a fine line between public expression and mob rule.

Zachary's book list on mob violence

Zachary M. Schrag Why did Zachary love this book?

Whatever rhetoric leaders deploy, they depend on others—usually teenagers and young men—who will fight for the joy of it. “Violence is one of the most intensely lived experiences,” writes Buford. “For those capable of giving themselves over to it, is one of the most intense pleasures.” He reaches this conclusion after years of observing the largely apolitical English football hooligans who follow their favorite teams around Europe, plundering and brawling as they go. The crime is brutal and pointless, but, Buford explains, the thugs thrill to the mayhem, the naughtiness, and the sound of broken glass. 

By Bill Buford,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Among the Thugs as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The author of this book has spent most of his spare time "among the thugs", the hooligans whose violence scars the face of English football. He has written a work of investigative journalism and a meditation on the violence that lies just beneath the surface of English life.


Book cover of The Devil's Own Work: The Civil War Draft Riots and the Fight to Reconstruct America

Zachary M. Schrag Author Of The Fires of Philadelphia: Citizen-Soldiers, Nativists, and the 1844 Riots Over the Soul of a Nation

From my list on mob violence.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am fortunate not to have witnessed any major riots myself; the worst I’ve endured was a 1993 street fight in Moscow between parading Communists and the police, with bricks on one side and clubs and water cannon on the other. But even a relatively gentle protest march that draws a police response can be an astonishing spectacle, transforming a familiar, modern city into a medieval battlefield of massed crowds confronting armored men on horseback. And I am fascinated by the place of crowd actions in democratic societies. The right to assemble is embedded in our constitution, but there’s a fine line between public expression and mob rule.

Zachary's book list on mob violence

Zachary M. Schrag Why did Zachary love this book?

The four days of deadly fighting that shook New York City in July 1863 are best known as the Civil War Draft Riots, but they combined multiple, overlapping grievances. While some men rioted in outrage that poor men must fight while rich men could buy an exemption, others seized the chance to lynch African Americans, settle old political scores, loot shops, or smash the grain elevators and street-sweeping machines they blamed for their unemployment. Schecter connects the intimate, block-by-block events of a riot with the largest debates facing the nation, helping to explain the ultimate disappointment of Reconstruction.

By Barnet Schecter,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Devil's Own Work as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This lively best-selling story - now in its third edition - will appeal to youngsters diagnosed with ADD or ADHD. Otto is a high-octane young car whose motor is always running in overdrive. He also has trouble paying attention in school, is easily distracted, and acts without thinking. Otto and his parents visit a special mechanic, who prescribes medication to slow down Otto's racing motor and who shows him many ways to be more focused and organized and better able to get along with others. Reflecting a multiple-treatment approach to ADHD, Otto's experience includes counseling and other non-medical supports in…


Book cover of Hate Spin: The Manufacture of Religious Offense and Its Threat to Democracy

Zachary M. Schrag Author Of The Fires of Philadelphia: Citizen-Soldiers, Nativists, and the 1844 Riots Over the Soul of a Nation

From my list on mob violence.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am fortunate not to have witnessed any major riots myself; the worst I’ve endured was a 1993 street fight in Moscow between parading Communists and the police, with bricks on one side and clubs and water cannon on the other. But even a relatively gentle protest march that draws a police response can be an astonishing spectacle, transforming a familiar, modern city into a medieval battlefield of massed crowds confronting armored men on horseback. And I am fascinated by the place of crowd actions in democratic societies. The right to assemble is embedded in our constitution, but there’s a fine line between public expression and mob rule.

Zachary's book list on mob violence

Zachary M. Schrag Why did Zachary love this book?

Unscrupulous leaders often stir up mob violence in service to their own ambitions, taking offense at slights that they could choose to shrug off. George charges such groups as the Bharatiya Janata Party in India, the Front Pembela Islam in Indonesia, and ACT! for America in the United States with pursuing power, money, and attention by shrieking that a blasphemous cartoon, a multicultural textbook, or a new house of worship threatens the dominant religion. “Explosions of righteous indignation and incitement are more than the hysteria of mad mullahs and enraged mobs,” argues George. He reminds us to look past the young men throwing rocks and find the movement leaders who stand to gain.

By Cherian George,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Hate Spin as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

How right-wing political entrepreneurs around the world use religious offense—both given and taken—to mobilize supporters and marginalize opponents.

In the United States, elements of the religious right fuel fears of an existential Islamic threat, spreading anti-Muslim rhetoric into mainstream politics. In Indonesia, Muslim absolutists urge suppression of churches and minority sects, fostering a climate of rising intolerance. In India, Narendra Modi's radical supporters instigate communal riots and academic censorship in pursuit of their Hindu nationalist vision. Outbreaks of religious intolerance are usually assumed to be visceral and spontaneous. But in Hate Spin, Cherian George shows that they often involve sophisticated…


Book cover of Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio

Christopher Stanton Author Of Nick Pope

From my list on graphic novels personal stories set in the past.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always been interested in creators who convey intensely personal stories through dynamic visuals, whether it be animation, illustrations, or comics. And even better: tales of people who lived in the past! Although trained in screenwriting and creative writing, I started making art twenty years ago–and that gave me a newfound respect for those folks who combine great stories and memorable drawings. Nowadays, I can’t read enough graphic novels! 

Christopher's book list on graphic novels personal stories set in the past

Christopher Stanton Why did Christopher love this book?

This is easily one of the most shocking and upsetting books I've read in a long time, considering I knew next to nothing about this massacre. I grew up in Columbus (a bit south of Kent, OH) and was born a year after these events, but now I'm informed, angry, and grateful–thanks to Mr. Backderf. The book is exhaustively researched, well-constructed, and beautifully drawn.

By Derf Backderf,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Kent State as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From bestselling author Derf Backderf comes the untold story of the Kent State shootings-timed for the 50th anniversary

On May 4, 1970, the Ohio National Guard gunned down unarmed college students protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State University. In a deadly barrage of 67 shots, 4 students were killed and 9 shot and wounded. It was the day America turned guns on its own children-a shocking event burned into our national memory. A few days prior, 10-year-old Derf Backderf saw those same Guardsmen patrolling his nearby hometown, sent in by the governor to crush a trucker strike. Using the…


Book cover of Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs: Unconventional Warfare in the Ancient World

Thomas I. Faith Author Of Behind the Gas Mask: The U.S. Chemical Warfare Service in War and Peace

From my list on chemical weapons.

Why am I passionate about this?

When I first enrolled in college, I expected to be a science major who was also interested in history, but I ended up becoming a history major who was also interested in science. I earned my Ph.D. in history from George Washington University in Washington, DC, after earning my B.A. from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. My Ph.D. dissertation on the U.S. Army Chemical Warfare Service during WWI and the 1920s became the basis for my book Behind the Gas Mask.

Thomas' book list on chemical weapons

Thomas I. Faith Why did Thomas love this book?

This book is a history of chemical and biological warfare in antiquity that is full of fascinating revelations. Adrienne Mayor investigates ancient texts and legends to explore early methods of warfare that continue to have relevance today. This book illustrates that ethical debates over the use of chemical weapons are as old as humanity itself.

By Adrienne Mayor,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A gripping and groundbreaking history of how ancient cultures developed and used biological, chemical, and other unconventional weapons of war

Flamethrowers, poison gases, incendiary bombs, the large-scale spreading of disease: are these terrifying agents of warfare modern inventions? Not by a long shot. In this riveting history of the origins of unconventional war, Adrienne Mayor shows that cultures around the world have used biological and chemical weapons for thousands of years-and debated the morality of doing so. Drawing extraordinary connections between the mythical worlds of Hercules and the Trojan War, the accounts of Herodotus and Thucydides, and modern methods of…


Book cover of War and Nature: Fighting Humans and Insects with Chemicals from World War I to Silent Spring

Thomas I. Faith Author Of Behind the Gas Mask: The U.S. Chemical Warfare Service in War and Peace

From my list on chemical weapons.

Why am I passionate about this?

When I first enrolled in college, I expected to be a science major who was also interested in history, but I ended up becoming a history major who was also interested in science. I earned my Ph.D. in history from George Washington University in Washington, DC, after earning my B.A. from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. My Ph.D. dissertation on the U.S. Army Chemical Warfare Service during WWI and the 1920s became the basis for my book Behind the Gas Mask.

Thomas' book list on chemical weapons

Thomas I. Faith Why did Thomas love this book?

War and Nature is an innovative and thought-provoking look at the relationship between chemical warfare and insecticides that intersects military history, environmental history, and cultural history. Edmund Russell weaves together many disparate threads of inquiry into a cohesive and compelling story about how military tools can transition into commercial uses. War and Nature convinced me to study chemical warfare in my academic career more than any other book.

By Edmund Russell,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked War and Nature as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

War and Nature combines discussion of technology, nature, and warfare to explain the impact of war on nature and vice versa. While cultural and scholarly traditions have led us to think of war and control of nature as separate, this 2001 book uses the history of chemical warfare and pest control as a case study to show that war and control of nature coevolved. Ideologically, institutionally, and technologically, the paths of chemical warfare and pest control intersected repeatedly in the twentieth century. These intersections help us understand the development of total war and the rise of the modern environmental movement.


Book cover of Hellfire Boys: The Birth of the U.S. Chemical Warfare Service and the Race for the World's Deadliest Weapons

Thomas I. Faith Author Of Behind the Gas Mask: The U.S. Chemical Warfare Service in War and Peace

From my list on chemical weapons.

Why am I passionate about this?

When I first enrolled in college, I expected to be a science major who was also interested in history, but I ended up becoming a history major who was also interested in science. I earned my Ph.D. in history from George Washington University in Washington, DC, after earning my B.A. from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. My Ph.D. dissertation on the U.S. Army Chemical Warfare Service during WWI and the 1920s became the basis for my book Behind the Gas Mask.

Thomas' book list on chemical weapons

Thomas I. Faith Why did Thomas love this book?

Hellfire Boys is the story of the U.S. Army Chemical Warfare Service during the First World War, written by a journalist who brings his skills as an investigator and a storyteller to this tale. Theo Emery became interested in chemical warfare in 2012 while covering the U.S. Army’s excavation of buried WWI chemical weapons beneath the Spring Valley neighborhood of Washington, DC. Well researched and readable, I literally could not put Hellfire Boys down.

By Theo Emery,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Hellfire Boys as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This explosive look into the dawn of chemical warfare during World War I is "a terrifying piece of history that almost no one knows" (Hampton Sides).

In 1915, when German forces executed the first successful gas attack of World War I, the world watched in horror as the boundaries of warfare were forever changed. Cries of barbarianism rang throughout Europe, yet Allied nations immediately jumped into the fray, kickstarting an arms race that would redefine a war already steeped in unimaginable horror.

Largely forgotten in the confines of history, the development of the U.S. Chemical Warfare Service in 1917 left…


Book cover of Holding Their Breath: How the Allies Confronted the Threat of Chemical Warfare in World War II

Thomas I. Faith Author Of Behind the Gas Mask: The U.S. Chemical Warfare Service in War and Peace

From my list on chemical weapons.

Why am I passionate about this?

When I first enrolled in college, I expected to be a science major who was also interested in history, but I ended up becoming a history major who was also interested in science. I earned my Ph.D. in history from George Washington University in Washington, DC, after earning my B.A. from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. My Ph.D. dissertation on the U.S. Army Chemical Warfare Service during WWI and the 1920s became the basis for my book Behind the Gas Mask.

Thomas' book list on chemical weapons

Thomas I. Faith Why did Thomas love this book?

This book provides an answer to a question that historians of arms control have asked since WWII ended: Why had the use of chemical weapons on the battlefield not become widespread in WWII, in the same manner it had in WWI? Focusing on Britain, Canada, and the United States, Holding Their Breath explores Allied reluctance to use chemical weapons and their formulation of a joint policy on chemical warfare. M. Girard Dorsey shows that the potential for chemical warfare in WWII profoundly influenced the course of the war’s events.

By M. Girard Dorsey,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Holding Their Breath as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Holding Their Breath uncovers just how close Britain, the United States, and Canada came to crossing the red line that restrained chemical weapon use during World War II. Unlike World War I, belligerents did not release poison gas regularly during the Second World War. Yet, the looming threat of chemical warfare significantly affected the actions and attitudes of these three nations as they prepared their populations for war, mediated their diplomatic and military alliances, and attempted to defend their national identities and sovereignty.

The story of chemical weapons and World War II begins in the interwar period as governments and…


Book cover of Setting Up Shop: The Practical Guide to Designing and Building Your Dream Shop

Michael Dresdner Author Of The New Wood Finishing Book

From my list on for woodworkers to expand their horizons.

Why am I passionate about this?

Michael Dresdner is a nationally known finishing and woodworking expert and guitar maker/designer, author of five books and several videos on wood finishing and guitar making. He’s been a Contributing Editor to Fine Woodworking Magazine, American Woodworker Magazine, and Woodworker’s Journal, wrote the Just Finishing byline column for American Woodworker Magazine for over 7 years, and the Finishing Thoughts byline column for Woodworker’s Journal for almost 20 years. While a consultant to one of the country’s largest coatings conglomerates, he wrote answers to over 8,000 questions for the www.woodanswers.com website blog and edited the Woodworker’s Journal eZine, an award-winning online woodworking magazine with over a quarter of a million subscribers.

Michael's book list on for woodworkers to expand their horizons

Michael Dresdner Why did Michael love this book?

Whether starting from scratch or expanding into new woodworking ventures, correctly setting up your shop can spell the difference between success and failure. Here’s where to come for information on electricity and lighting, tools, heating and ventilation, dust collection, benches, shop layout, and even safety. You’ll know what to buy, what to avoid, and what to do to make your workspace as efficient and comfortable as possible, no matter what flights of woodworking fancy you pursue. 

By Sandor Nagyszalanczy,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Setting Up Shop as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This book is ideal for fitting a shop for the first time, or expanding an existing shop. "Setting Up Shop, Revised" takes the practical knowledge and ingenious solutions of the first edition and combines them with additional photos and drawings to create the most comprehensive workshop book on the market. Includes new photos and also updates on technology especially regarding dust collection, pneumatic tools and safety. With guidance on the best shop location, shop layout, equipping the shop with tools and accessories, shop safety and storage.


Book cover of The Bar Book: Elements of Cocktail Technique

Carey Jones Author Of Every Cocktail Has a Twist: Master 25 Classic Drinks and Craft More Than 200 Variations

From my list on books for home bartenders.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been writing about cocktails and spirits for over a decade, often in collaboration with my mixologist husband and co-author, John McCarthy. Our mission is to create delicious, practical cocktail recipes for the home bartender. There are a number of cocktail books out there, but they usually fall into two camps. Novelty books, which are often silly and untested. Or books written by professionals, for professionals, impractical if you don’t have a centrifuge, dehydrator, and 300-odd liqueurs in your home bar. What about the vast middle ground–people who love cocktails, want to make them at home, and learn something while they’re sipping? We believe in finding the best books for them. 

Carey's book list on books for home bartenders

Carey Jones Why did Carey love this book?

I’ve spent more than a decade immersed in the cocktail world and writing about bar culture, mixology, and technique; John is an award-winning bartender himself. And yet when we have questions on cocktail technique, we always, always reach for this book.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler is a legend in the industry and, what’s more, he has a gift for clear instruction. Whatever our question, we’ll find an authoritative answer here. 

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