A nation of guns.

• Author: Feeney, Matthew
• Position: Briefly Noted - Brief article - Book review

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Chris Kyle, one of the most accomplished Navy SEAL snipers in history, was finishing up the manuscript of American Gun: A History of the U.S. in Ten Firearms (William Morrow) when he was the victim of a fatal shooting on a gun range this February. Co-author William Doyle completed the book, which outlines how firearm technology has formed the political, cultural, and even geographic shape of our country, no to mention its standing in the world.

Covering the American long rifle of the Revolutionary War, the Colt revolver...