Review by Larry S. Sterett | Contributing Editor
AMERICAN GUN by Chris Kyle, with William Doyle. ©2013. Published by HarperCollins Publishers, Dept. TGM, 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022. Price: $29.99, plus shipping. Available in most bookstores and from online booksellers.
Sub-titled A History of the US in Ten Firearms, and written by the author of the best-selling American Sniper, this 320-page hardbound volume is just what the title states. Kyle, who was killed just as the book was in its final stages, picked the ten small arms thought to have had the greatest impact on American history. While all readers may not agree on the choices, it’s difficult to fault those selected, from the long rifle of the American Revolution to the M16/AR15 of today.
A chapter is devoted to each of the arms selected—six rifles, including the Spencer repeater, M1903 Springfield, and M1 Garand, three handguns, and one submachinegun—the Thompson, naturally. (No shotguns are featured in this tome, and of the three handguns selected, two are revolvers, the Colt Single Action Army in .45 Colt and those Colts/Smith & Wessons, etc., chambered for the .38 S&W Special. (While many (most?) police departments have replaced their .38 Special chambered revolvers with semi-automatic pistols chambered for the .40 S&W cartridge, some revolvers are still carried, often as back-up.)
In addition to the ten chapters devoted to the small arms, this volume features an Epilogue, a Foreword and an Afterword by Taya Kyle, widow of Chris, a ten-page appendix listing each arm—one per page—along with some data and comments, source notes, acknowledgements, and an index. There are more than a hundred illustrations consisting of black and white photographs, catalog cuts, etc., and sketches. (The end papers, front and back, feature sketches of the ten small arms, and the title page for each chapter features a sketch for the arms featured in that specific chapter.)
This is an enjoyable volume to read. It is not a technical volume. It’s a volume about history, truth, belief, patriotism, love of country and ten of the small arms that played parts in the growth of America. Some of the chapters stray a bit from the original subject, such as on a variety of regular machineguns in the Thompson sub chapters, but it’s still interesting reading. It’s a book worthy of space on any bookshelf.
