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Gun Barons - The Weapons That Transformed America and the Men Who Invented Them (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R425
Discovery Miles 4 250
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Gun Barons - The Weapons That Transformed America and the Men Who Invented Them (Hardcover)
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List price R583
Loot Price R425
Discovery Miles 4 250
You Save R158 (27%)
Expected to ship within 9 - 17 working days
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It's the nineteenth century. As America prepares for civil war,
five men living within ninety miles of one another will change the
course of history. The invention and refinement of the repeating
firearm-the precursor to today's automatic weapons-means life in
America and beyond will never be the same again. In this riveting
work of narrative history, veteran reporter John Bainbridge, Jr.
vividly brings to life the five charismatic and idiosyncratic men
at the heart of the story: the huckster and hard-living Samuel
Colt; the cunning former shirt-maker Oliver Winchester; the
constant tinkerer Horace Smith; the resilient and innovative
businessman Daniel Wesson; and the skinny abolitionist Christopher
Spencer. As the men competed ferociously, each trying to corner the
market for repeating weapons, invention and necessity collided in a
perfect storm: America was crashing violently towards furious
sectarianism, irrevocable tensions, and, of course, bloodthirsty
war. Though capable of firing many times without reloading,
astonishingly, the new guns faced a government backlash for using
too much ammunition. Sold directly to soldiers, sometimes just as
they were walking into battle, they quickly became coveted
possessions, both during the Civil War and in the conquering of the
West-and thus America's romance with personal firearms was born.
Wide-ranging and vividly told, this is a gripping story of
tenacity, conviction, innovation, and pure heartless greed.
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