When it comes to firearms, I consider myself a bit of a gun buff. I have enjoyed reading about them in print media, such as books, and watched many videos on Youtube about the topic. Now, don't misunderstand me, I have not fired a gun before due to my special needs, and most likely, will not ever for fear of going blind, but I still admire and respect them and what they have done to shape our current political and social climate. In fact, I think that the introduction to the Tales of the Gun documentary series put it the best:
“The gun has played a critical role in history. It has been praised and denounced...served hero and villain alike... and carries with it moral responsibility. To better understand the gun is to better understand history.”
Personally, I see much truth to those words. For better or worse, the firearm has shaped our history, and it still defines us, and our national character, today.
It is with this in mind that I decided to listen to American Gun on audio. I was curious to see what Chris Kyle, whom I had read about in his other book American Sniper, had to say on the subject of guns, and his top picks for those that he felt changed the american landscape.
So did I learn anything new? Not really, I was able to learn a few new things about some events that were mentioned to explain how each firearm choice was important to the development of US history. By and large, however, I was not surprised by many of the firearms listed, even going as far as to guess many of them, and being correct.
With that said, this text should be read by people who do not know very much about firearms and are eager to learn more. Kyle has a respectable list of firearms, although I would have liked to see a shotgun or two on the list. Of course, considering that he is one of the most successful snipers in American Military history, I am not surprised that he would be more attuned to rifles and pistols. Still, he lends a writing style that is very enjoyable to listen to and, I imagine, read as well, being more exciting to experience than other books of this type.
So while I think that this book as a whole was very good, I am not going to rate it any higher than three stars. Why? Because I rate books based on what I think of them, not on what other people, or a specific market, should think of them. This book was not for me, and may not be for you, if you know a lot about the history of guns already. If you do not though, pick this one up. It is very readable and enjoyable.
