'The Gun - the Story of the AK-47' by C.J. Chivers. ISBN 978-141-02063-1
This was a very pleasant surprise, possibly because it is misnamed. Not just a history of the AK, but a very readable history of automatic weapons, from before the Gatling right up to the AKM and M4 series of today.
I found the chapters on the horribly mismanaged (I'd go so far as to say criminal) introduction of the M-16 into service with the US military in Vietnam of particular interest. Quite a few people should have gone to prison for a very long time over that - or perhaps even more apt a punishment, been put into the field in Viet Nam equipped with the weapon they supplied to their hapless soldiers and marines.
Chivers also pretty convincingly debunks much of the mythology about the origins of the AK and the role played in that mythology by Mikhail Kalashnikov.
Good read. Highly recommended.