<![CDATA[American Rifle: A Biography]]>

false <![CDATA[American Rifle: A Biography]]> 4532592 1 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. 4581806 21 10 2008 American Rifle: A Biography total:30|5:4|4:14|3:12|2:0|1:0| 30 112 63 20 4 1 false false Fri Dec 19 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Oct 15 13:23:09 -0700 2008 Fri Dec 19 14:50:30 -0800 2008 rifling a gun barrel to increase a musketball's spin and accuracy was established b...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Mar 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 19 19:18:42 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 24 14:29:17 -0700 2009
I am convinced. It is impossible to write a book about firearms without outraging either the peaceniks or the “gun enthusiasts” and I’ll admit right up-front that my sympathie...more...]]> 0 1 false false Mon Sep 22 08:52:55 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 10 12:30:34 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Nov 23 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 16 16:49:19 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 23 08:20:35 -0800 2008
A biography of the American rifle it most certainly is, but it's also in many ways a history of America as seen fro...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun May 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 03 22:39:06 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 03 22:49:06 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Nov 03 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Oct 22 15:21:13 -0700 2008 Mon Nov 03 09:13:47 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Oct 15 08:51:40 -0700 2008 Tue Feb 17 16:09:51 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Feb 25 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 14 16:27:40 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 25 23:09:18 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Feb 14 10:04:46 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 14 10:15:24 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Fri Apr 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jan 15 09:49:40 -0800 2009 Fri Jul 10 08:46:27 -0700 2009
A lot of information was covered regarding the selection of rifles for the Army by the Ordnance Depar...more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Aug 13 15:12:00 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 13 15:15:45 -0700 2009 Who would have thought you could read a whole book about Rifles and find it interesting from beginning to end.

from the origin of the musket, the riffling process where its name comes from, to the historical movements influenced by its use.. ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Feb 23 13:31:40 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 23 13:32:37 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Tue Mar 31 19:51:20 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 31 19:51:20 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Mar 11 06:10:16 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 11 06:10:38 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Tue Dec 02 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Sep 29 20:55:00 -0700 2008 Tue Dec 02 20:48:26 -0800 2008 1
It has a good mix of interesting anecdotes and personal accounts laced with historical facts.

Rose has obviously done extensive rese...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Oct 20 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 08 08:23:00 -0700 2008 Mon Oct 20 14:39:48 -0700 2008 1 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Apr 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Nov 02 07:51:37 -0800 2008 Wed Apr 29 17:31:33 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 22 17:07:53 -0800 2009 Fri Mar 20 17:41:52 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sun Nov 23 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Oct 27 09:14:43 -0700 2008 Mon Dec 01 15:00:59 -0800 2008 1 LibraryThing.com.]]> 4 0 true false Mon Sep 22 07:12:40 -0700 2008 Tue Oct 21 14:15:42 -0700 2008 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=4532592