American Gun: A History of the U.S. in Ten Firearms
- ISBN-10
- 0062242733
- ISBN-13
- 9780062242730
- Category
- History
- Pages
- 336
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2013-06-04
- Publisher
- Harper Collins
- Authors
- William Doyle, Chris Kyle
Description
Chris Kyle—fallen hero and #1 bestselling author of American Sniper—reveals how ten legendary guns forever changed U.S. history. At the time of his tragic death in February 2013, former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, the top sniper in U.S. military history, was finishing one of the most exciting missions of his life: a remarkable book that retold American history through the lens of a hand-selected list of firearms. Kyle masterfully shows how guns have played a fascinating, indispensable, and often underappreciated role in our national story. "Perhaps more than any other nation in the world," Kyle writes, "the history of the United States has been shaped by the gun. Firearms secured the first Europeans' hold on the continent, opened the frontier, helped win our independence, settled the West, kept law and order, and defeated tyranny across the world." Drawing on his unmatched firearms knowledge and combat experience, Kyle carefully chose ten guns to help tell his story: the American long rifle, Spencer repeater, Colt .45 revolver, Winchester rifle, Springfield 1903 rifle, Thompson sub-machine gun, 1911 pistol, M1 Garand, .38 Special police revolver, and the M-16 rifle platform Kyle himself used as a SEAL. Through them, he revisits thrilling turning points in American history, including the single sniper shot that turned the tide of the Revolutionary War, the firearms designs that proved decisive at Gettysburg, the "gun that won the West," and the weapons that gave U.S. soldiers an edge in the world wars and beyond. This is also the story of how firearms innovation, creativity, and industrial genius has constantly pushed American history—and power—forward. Filled with an unforgettable cast of characters, Chris Kyle's American Gun is a sweeping epic of bravery, adventure, invention, and sacrifice.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2014-05-27
- 336 pages
- Paperback
- William Morrow Paperbacks
Similar books
-
The Gunning of America: Business and the Making of American Gun Culture
By Pamela HaagPamela Haag shows conclusively that this country's tragic obsession with guns is not part of our political origins, or our constitutional and moral DNA; it is the result of marketing and industrial capitalism. Our gun culture was made, ...
-
Lock, Stock, and Barrel: The Origins of American Gun Culture
By Clayton E. Cramer10. Francis Baily, Journal of a Tour in Unsettled Parts of North America in 1796 & 1797, ed. Augustus De Morgan (London: Baily Bros., 1856), 109. 11. Baily, Journal of a Tour, 127–128. 12. Baily, Journal of a Tour, 132–134. 13.
-
The Great American Gun Control Debate (Not!)
By Michael E. WuestIn 'THE GREAT AMERICAN GUN CONTROL DEBATE (Not!)", Mr. Wuest puts gun control under the microscope.
-
Guns in America: A Historical Reader
By Jan E. Dizard, Robert Muth, Stephen P. Andrews-- Lawsuit aims at gun industry -- Crime fighting's about-face -- Second thoughts on the Second Amendment -- Ten essential observations on guns in America.
-
Shooters: Myths and Realities of America's Gun Cultures
By Abigail A. KohnWood, Gordon S. 1991. The Radicalism of the American Revolution. New York: Vintage Books. Wright, James D. 1990. “Second Thoughts about Gun Control.” In The Gun Control Debate: You Decide. L. Nisbet, ed. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus, 93–107.
-
Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture
By Michael A. BellesilesIn this context , the argument of many scholars that the South was peculiarly militaristic does not make a great deal of sense . ... and Mind of James Johnston Pettigrew ( Athens , GA , 1990 ) , 123–29 ( quote p .
-
American Rifle: A Biography
By Alexander RoseAbraham Lincoln shot them on the White House lawn. And Teddy Roosevelt had his specially customized. In this first-of-its-kind book, historian Alexander Rose delivers a colorful, engrossing biography of an American icon: the rifle.
-
American Shooter: A Personal History of Gun Culture in the United States
By Gerry SouterJohn Brown's raid on the arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, on October 16, 1859, was supposed to rally slaves to his abolitionist cause. The army of former slaves would empty the arsenal of its thousands of rifles and pistols and begin ...
-
How America Got Its Guns: A History of the Gun Violence Crisis
By William Briggs... sales numbers during the “Newtown boom,” when sales of guns and accessories soared. In a one-year period ending August 2012, Ruger produced over one million guns.23 However, the boom then subsided: Ruger's profits dropped to $15.5 ...
-
Understanding America's Gun Culture
By Craig Hovey, Lisa Fisher“Troubling the Subject of Violence: The Pacifist Presumption, Martial Maternalism, and Armed Women in Contemporary Gun Culture.” In Perverse Politics? Feminism, Anti-Imperialism, Multiplicity. Political Power and Social Theory, Vol.