American Gun audiobook

Okay, full disclosure here. While history buffs will enjoy this book, history buffs who are also gun buffs with "really" enjoy this book.I read American Sniper and found it a good, straight forward account. This is the same. The writing is more business like than anything else. it's easy to read, holds the interest and simply relates the narrative....Straight from the hip as it were.The book simply looks at a sort of running account of "some of the events" in American history based on 10 of Mr. Kyle's favorite firearms. Of course as he himself notes we won't all agree on our favorite firearms. I agree on some and have an "I'd rather have this than that" reaction to a couple. Still it's an interesting book.So, the book is told in an interesting manner, the action of history is related in an interesting manner. He has his facts right (though opinion of course is another matter, LOL).We lost a lot in Mr. Kyle. I can recommend this one.

Earlier this year, the U.S. lost a genuine American hero when former Navy Seal sniper Chris Kyle was killed in a tragic accident. At the time of his death, Kyle was near to finishing his second book on a subject that was near and dear to him – the history of influential guns that affected U.S. history. “American Gun: A History of the U.S. In Ten Firearms” is that book.Kyle was recognized as the top sniper in U.S. military, but he was also a student of the history of firearms through the ages. He drew upon that love of the history to present what he consider the top ten guns that were influential in turning points in American history. Those guns include the American long rifle, Spencer repeater, Colt .45 revolver, Winchester rifle, Springfield M1903 rifle, the Thomspon sub-machine gun, the M1911 pistol, the M1 Garand, the .38 special police revolver, and the M-16 rifle platform. In examining each gun and presenting the background of it’s making, Kyle tells the story of how these guns changed the world. From the Revolutionary War up through to the current actions in the Afghanistan/Iraq War, Kyle shows how these guns gave American soldiers the advantage they needed to make a difference in their world.Written in Kyle’s first-person voice, this book is filled with stories and observances that are presented in a way that the reader feels like he has sat down with Chris himself to talk about guns and history. This is an extremely well done book, and it is a fitting tribute to a true hero – the author Chris Kyle.

The entire special operations community, and those affiliated with or following it, remembers a tragic day in February of this year. The news that Chris Kyle, the Navy SEAL sniper who holds the record for most confirmed kills in American history, was gunned down was heart-wrenching, particularly to those who knew him personally. In the time leading to his death, Kyle had been working on a unique and interesting project called American Gun: A History of the US in Ten Firearms. After his death, Jim DeFelice and William Doyle picked up where Kyle left off and made sure to see the book to its completion, as Kyle would have wanted. I am personally glad they did, as American Gun is a fascinating and thoughtful read.I have said this for a while: firearms are a part of the American identity. Unlike most other nations, the United States was a nation born through the barrel of a rifle. Chris Kyle believed that as well, and set out to find ten iconic weapons that defined American history, as well as the men who wielded them. The book opens up with a moving foreword from Kyle’s widow, Taya, who declares that Kyle was a man who tended to downplay his intellect, but who possessed much of it, particularly in terms of history and firearms.He had been shooting firearms since he was a child, and was also enamored with the history of the nation that he spent his life defending in some fashion or another. As soon as I moved past the foreword and launched into the chapter on the first weapon on Kyle’s list, it was apparent that Taya’s assessment of her husband was right on the money. The prose reads with a straightforward tone, absent of pomp or arrogance but abundant in confidence knowledge of the subject matter. It is also lock and step with Kyle’s background as a special operator, a quiet professional who knows his stuff.The ten weapons that Kyle covers are:The Kentucky rifleThe Spencer RepeaterThe Colt Single Action ArmyThe Winchester 1873 rifleThe Colt M1911The Springfield M1903The Thompson submachine gunThe M1 GarandThe .38 Special Police revolverThe M16 rifleRather than bore the casual reader with technical details of each rifle, Kyle gives just enough of a layman’s explanation to each weapon so that said casual reader will understand what’s going on. More interestingly, he finds historical examples of where each weapon was used and how it was a defining moment in American history. The weapons truly do span the breadth of the American legacy, from Revolutionary War marksman Sergeant Timothy Murphy with his Kentucky rifle, to Abraham Lincoln testing a Spencer Repeater on his private Presidential shooting range, to Theodore Roosevelt taking lessons learned from the Spanish-American War and pushing for the adoption of the Springfield M1903 as the standard battle rifle, to the likes of Baby Face Nelson and Machine Gun Kelly wielding Tommy Guns in their battles against the law, and even to LZ X-Ray with LTC Hal Moore and his soldiers of the 7th Cavalry, going toe-to-toe with the North Vietnamese. Each weapon has at least a couple stories to be told, and Kyle did a fantastic job doing the research and explaining his choices.Personally, the best story for me in the book was during the section on the M1911. A B-24 pilot by the name of Owen J. Baggett was flying combat sorties in the Pacific theater of World War II. His plane was shot down and he bailed with a parachute. During his descent, Baggett sustained several injuries from enemy fire. One Japanese pilot flew in for a closer look before administering the coup de grace. Baggett played dead, then when the pilot was close enough, he drew his 1911 and fired multiple rounds into the cockpit. The plane veered off and Baggett thought nothing more of it until he was on the ground. Upon capture by the Japanese, Baggett noticed that his captors treated him with a certain deference they did not afford other POWs. When meeting with another POW, it was explained to Baggett that a Japanese pilot had crashed his plane and they had found a .45ACP round buried in the pilot’s head. The fact that an injured pilot parachuting had downed an airplane with his sidearm had earned him instant respect with the Japanese. It’s stories like this which make American Gun such an entertaining and informative read.The book is not without its flaws. The biggest one that comes to mind is the chapter on the .38 Special Police Revolver. Most of this chapter was spent explaining how the police eventually abandoned their revolvers for the likes of the Glock and how peace officers do not get enough trigger time on the range. I felt more time could have been spent explaining how that particular choice made an impact on American history, or that perhaps another firearm should have been chosen. That is not to say that the stories detailed in that chapter are not interesting or well written, however. It starts off with an attempted presidential assassination and rolls from there.American Gun is definitely a fitting legacy for Chris Kyle, who was a passionate firearms advocate. It’s written with the authority of a subject matter expert and the straight-talking voice of a warrior. From the onset, Kyle acknowledges that not everybody will agree with his choices, but it is indisputable that the research put into justifying his choices is educational, to say the least. This is definitely a read for history buffs, firearms enthusiasts, and anybody looking to learn a little more about either category. The United States is a nation that was born through the barrel of a gun, and has repeatedly continued to exist through the same. American Gun, simply put, is this nation’s identity summarized through the tools that shaped it.

Chris Kyle was an American hero, and he was also an expert on guns. This book is amazing, and not just for gun experts. If you have any interest in historical fiction, or romance, or military adventure, it's an amazingly valuable tool. It really explains the difference between muskets and rifles, between bolt-action and semi-automatic fire, and between semi-automatic and fully automatic machine guns in a way that's really easy to follow. Plus there are some great stories that highlight each of these historical guns in action. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in guns, patriotism, American history, or in writing historical fiction that involves firearms of any kind.

"Each gun has its own story to tell, its own connection not just to the past, but the American spirit."This was so much more entertaining that I thought it would be! I struggle to not give it five stars but it doesn't quite fit my "everyone should read this right now" standard for five stars. That being said, I was surprised by how much I learned from this book and how much I enjoyed it! With my husband being a Marine, having gone to the range a handful of times and completed the Conceal & Carry class, I knew a tiny bit going into this book, but I didn't grow up around guns and most of the weapons discussed in this book were completely foreign to me (except that I recognized the names). The author writes about a lot more than just ten guns. In an addition to the book about "The Eleventh Gun," Jim DeFelice writes, "In truth, there are far more than ten guns in the book. From variants to relatives to rivals, each of those ten choices seeds a wide-ranging discussion not just of American history but of paths not taken or only half traveled in weapon development. Still, the ten guns that Chris choses form the outline of the book, helping shape the story of our nation's past." Even though it was a little bit of a whirlwind, I learned a lot about how guns were invented and refined and why some of them rose to popularity while others did not. I learned about the mechanics of guns and the give and take that goes into design (weight, accuracy, speed of loading, accessories, reliability/dependability, etc.). It was really interesting to read about the progression and how certain guns really stood out in certain periods of history or certain conflicts. I guess one of my only critiques is that while the author does a good job at explaining things in terms that pretty much anyone can understand, I would have benefited from a brief "anatomy of a gun" lesson at the beginning. I sometimes had a hard time following all the features of the guns and what set them apart from each other. Either I missed it, or some of the terms weren't always explained and I couldn't fully appreciate the technical aspects of each weapon.What made up for getting lost in some of the technical jargon, though, were vivid and incredibly varied stories of when these guns were used and how they came into being. The author has such an entertaining style of writing and he really made these periods of history come alive. I even laughed out loud a few times at Kyle's descriptions. (Disclaimer: there's some bad language in the book, but I didn't feel like it was obnoxious). While the book is obviously gun-centric, there's a lot of U.S. history here since the author contextualizes each weapon within the historic events that gave birth to it. Jim DeFelice writes, "While the book ranges far and wide through guns and American history, for me one theme stands out beyond all others: the contribution that a single man might make, either when inventing a gun or using it. It always comes back to individuals, even when the themes and needs are abstractly epic. Guns, an expression of American character and spirit, are in the end simply tools for that character and spirit to advance itself through history, man by man and woman by woman." The author really captures this individual quality of the use of weapons. That the author of this book was murdered with a gun on a gun range working with a disturbed veteran is a heartbreaking irony. But Kyle never denied the struggle between good and evil in which the holders of these weapons were embroiled. He fully recognized that guns are tools that both sides use and he showed deep respect and admiration for anyone willing to use them for good, to put their lives on the line to stop the progress of evil. Reading Chris Kyle's words you can tell that he wasn't a macho, redneck gun nut who sadistically relished having power over someone else. He seemed to just accept that fact that good people needed to take action, sometimes deadly action, to stop those with evil intentions. He highlighted many such men and women in his book and it fostered, at least in me, a great appreciation for the good people who use guns so that the bad people who use guns don't get as far as they would like. I think a lot of people would enjoy this book and, even if you aren't really into guns, I think Kyle's entertaining writing and down to earth descriptions would make this book worth your time. At the very least, it helps the reader to see the history of guns and how they've shaped our nation.

***NAVY SEAL Chris Kyle's passion for guns only surpassed by a love of history***Besides a decorated and lethal Navy SEAL sniper credited with the longest kill shot ever recorded—1.2 miles—Chris Kyle was also a loving husband and father. Chris’s love for guns began as a young boy “fighting imaginary bad guys with sticks for guns.” When his parents taught him “…the proper use of real guns,” and how to shoot and use weapons safely, weapons were the tools Chris used in the outdoors. His passion for guns was only surpassed by his love for history, a love that provided the inspiration for him to write American Gun: a History of the U.S. in Ten Firearms. In these pages Chris selected “…ten guns to serve as the flagship weapons…” he believed influenced and shaped American history that he then wrapped in stories of “…individuals whose sacrifices and strength changed history.” Complete with black and white photos and intricate gun diagrams. He did it this way because he didn’t want to write a “stodgy textbook” that put readers to sleep, he wanted to “talk history with the bullets flying.” He did that and more as he blends specific gun details with fascinating true stories that explore the “remarkable role guns had in shaping our great nation.” …Full Review: www.examiner.com/list/american-gun-a-...

another amazing book by an amazing man who was taken too soon. I'm not a gun enthusiast but I still highly enjoyed this book. I enjoyed Chris Kyle showing us how guns have impacted the course of American History, every aspect from the Revolutionary War to the Wild Wild West to the WWII. The things I learned in this book are things I never learned in school but where very interesting. I enjoyed how Chris Kyle brought in his experience with each gun and even explained to the reader about calibers, something I didn't know. The forward and afterward by Taya Kyle is so sweet and I'm glad she is working so hard to keep Chris Kyle's memory alive and complete the projects that were close to his heart. If you like history or guns or both I highly recommend reading this book.

Do you know what a rifled barrel is? Did you know that Lincoln had a shooting range on the White House grounds? Are you interested in the legendary shootout at the O.K. Coral with Wyatt Erp and Doc Holiday? Did you know that the Gatling gun was an American invention (as well as the first several, more modern machine guns)? Chris Kyle’s “American Gun” is an excellent read. Fun and quick, Kyle shares American History through the sights (get it?!) of 10 classic American firearms. I had no idea he was such a great writer. I took him for his self-described moniker: Texas redneck. Well, he may have been. But he was also an amazing American hero and patriot. And he’s a helluva writer to boot!

American Gun is about the guns from the 1700s through todays guns. If you know a lot about guns this is the book to read. If you are a person who wants to know about which war these guns were in. In my opinion i really like this book, not only because its military it's because it has the story's of each gun.

I so thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Fascinating romp through the history of the gun in America, starting with the Long Rifle and ending with the M16. Great stories and fascinating details.

The only reason this book has been placed last on the list is because it has just been released; therefore, it has not had enough time to garner a significant influence. The details contained in this explosive non-fiction exposé are going to resonate into the future. This book will surely be heralded as a classic from the current decade. The progression of American weaponry is illustrated in stunning detail. This evolution is graphically enthralling.

Excellent book! Couldn’t put it down. Not only does Mr. Kyle cover American history through guns, he also includes the history of the guns themselves. Civil wars, world wars, Vietnam, the Wild West, mobsters … he covers it all. And the way he writes is never dry, boring specs and facts … he makes it come alive. And he includes two of my top favorite guns … the Winchester 1873 and the Colt .45. As well as the Tommy gun. I highly recommend this book to both history buffs and gun buffs alike. Mr. Kyle did an amazing amount of research. But his deep understanding and respect of guns is very evident. He was a brilliant man. Much respect to him. ✊🏼