Colt: The Making of an American Legend

by William Hosley

Recounts the story of gun manufacturer Samuel Colt and his wife, Elizabeth, beginning with Sam Colt's early failures as both inventor and businessman and then tracing the development in the pre-Civil years of the notorious Colt revolver "The Gun That Won the West" into a global manufacturing export. Sam was an international celebrity and symbol of American enterprise (a Bill Gates of his time), and Elizabeth saw to it that the Colt legacy endured after Sam's death in 1862. Hosely is curator of American Decorative Arts at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut. The volume is nicely written, designed, and produced; inexplicably, there is no index. Accompanying the text are 132 b&w and 72 color illustrations. Paper edition (unseen), $29.95. 10x12" Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

254 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1996

Reviews

[Sic Transit Gloria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative. Stuffed full of useful and interesting information.

On the downside, it's horrendously long and not very well organized.

[Ben Raterman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Colt and his firearms