American Rifle: A Biography
by: Alexander Rose
List Price: $30.00
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Dewey Decimal Number: 683.422
EAN: 9780553805178
ISBN: 0553805177
Label: Delacorte Press
Manufacturer: Delacorte Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 512
Publication Date: October 21, 2008
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: October 21, 2008
Sales Rank: 4138
Studio: Delacorte Press
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
George Washington insisted that his portrait be painted with one. Daniel Boone created a legend with one. Abraham Lincoln shot them on the White House lawn. And Teddy Roosevelt had his specially customized.
Now, in this first-of-its-kind book, historian Alexander Rose delivers a colorful, engrossing biography of an American icon: the rifle. Drawing on the words of soldiers, inventors, and presidents, based on extensive new research, and encompassing the Revolution to the present day, American Rifle is a balanced, wonderfully entertaining history of this most essential firearm and its place in American culture.
In the eighteenth century American soldiers discovered that they no longer had to fight in Europe’s time-honored way. With the evolution of the famed “Kentucky” Rifle—a weapon slow to load but devastatingly accurate in the hands of a master—a new era of warfare dawned, heralding the birth of the American individualist in battle.
In this spirited narrative, Alexander Rose reveals the hidden connections between the rifle’s development and our nation’s history. We witness the high-stakes international competition to produce the most potent gunpowder . . . how the mysterious arts of metallurgy, gunsmithing, and mass production played vital roles in the creation of American economic supremacy . . . and the ways in which bitter infighting between rival arms makers shaped diplomacy and influenced the most momentous decisions in American history. And we learn why advances in rifle technology and ammunition triggered revolutions in military tactics, how ballistics tests—frequently bizarre—were secretly conducted, and which firearms determined the course of entire wars.
From physics to geopolitics, from frontiersmen to the birth of the National Rifle Association, from the battles of the Revolution to the war in Iraq, American Rifle is a must read for history buffs, gun collectors, soldiers—and anyone who seeks to understand the dynamic relationship between the rifle and this nation’s history.
Amazon.com Review:
Amazon Best of the Month, October 2008: Given the title, American Rifle is a book that many potential readers might dismiss without a thought. Don't do it: Alexander Rose's peculiar 'biography' is not written for gun enthusiasts--though they'll certainly enjoy it--but for anyone interested American history from George Washington to the Wild West to Iraq. Drawing on original sources ranging from Samuel Colt to the soldiers who depend on the weapon the most, this book is an exhaustive history of the rifle's place in American culture, not only as an instrument of war, but also as a driver of technological innovation and advances in mass production that helped propel the United States into its role as both a military and economic superpower. Once you start, American Rifle will have to be pried from your cold, dead hands before you put it down. --Jon Foro
Average Rating: 
Rating:
- Good, generally, as the other reviews state- but technical problemsI enjoyed the book, a breezy read on a subject dear to my heart. Rose's style is similar to Edwin ... Read More
Rating:
- A very enjoyable readThis book was a pleasant surprise. The Winchester on the cover caught my eye and I figured that a ... Read More
Rating:
- Interesting but DryAs a gun owner and enthusiastic supporter of the 2nd Amendment, I enjoyed learning about the history ... Read More
Rating:
- American Rifle: A BiographyWell written and paced. This covers where and when our firearms history and manufacture began, where ... Read More
Rating:
- A truly excellent bookMr. Rose has taken a huge amount of historical information and condensed it in to a very interesting ... Read More
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