Gun Barons: The Weapons That Transformed America and the Men Who Invented Them

by John Bainbridge Jr.

John Bainbridge, Jr.'s Gun Barons is a narrative history of six charismatic and idiosyncratic men who changed the course of American history through the invention and refinement of repeating weapons.

Love them or hate them, guns are woven deeply into the American soul. Names like Colt, Smith & Wesson, Winchester, and Remington are legendary. Yet few people are aware of the roles these men played at a crucial time in United States history, from westward expansion in the 1840s, through the Civil War, and into the dawn of the Gilded Age. Through personal drive and fueled by bloodshed, they helped propel the young country into the forefront of the world's industrial powers.

Their creations helped save a nation divided, while planting seeds that would divide the country again a century later. Their inventions embodied an intoxicating thread of American individualism―part fiction, part reality―that remains the foundation of modern gun culture. They promoted guns not only for the soldier, but for the Everyman, and also made themselves wealthy beyond their most fevered dreams.

Gun Barons captures how their bold inventiveness dwelled in the psyche of an entire people, not just in the minds of men who made firearm fortunes. Whether we revere these larger-than-life men or vilify them, they helped forge the American character.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Biography, Civil War, Military History, Technology

352 pages, Hardcover

Published May 24, 2022

About the author

John Bainbridge, Jr. is a freelance writer and former reporter for The Baltimore Sun and Legal Affairs Editor for The Daily Record in Maryland. He coauthored the nonfiction book, American Gunfight: The Plot to Kill Harry Truman and the Shoot-out that Stopped It (Simon & Schuster 2005). Bainbridge has also written for magazines, including Smithsonian and Audubon. He practiced law in the private sector, served as a law clerk for judges on Maryland’s highest court, and worked as a Maryland Assistant Attorney General.

Reviews

[PamG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gun Barons: The Weapons That Transformed America and the Men Who Invented Them by John Bainbridge Jr. is a nonfiction history book about several early American gunsmiths. Most of the book focuses on activities and people from the 1840’s through the 1870’s. Many of us have heard the names Colt, Smith & Wesson, Henry, Winchester, and Remington. However, how much do we really know about these men and their roles in United States history? They had a decided impact on westward expansion, the Civil War, and beyond.

While guns are a divisive issue, I was interested in knowing more about the men themselves and this book delivered on that. Those that had carpentry, tool making, and machinist experience prior to designing, inventing, and/or making guns and their component parts didn’t surprise me. However, those that had textile and retail experience did surprise me.

One thing that adversely affected the flow of the book was going back and forth between various gunsmiths before the 1840’s. After that, readers are able to see how they interacted, collaborated, or had patent court battles. Whether they were inventors, manufacturers, or investors, these men were willing to take risks to make better weapons. Many went bankrupt more than once. Others relied on other businesses to support them through the lean times. This was a time when manufacturing methods, tools, and marketing methods experienced progress and had a significant impact on industry.

This book focused on the men and the industry. While there is information on the guns, it doesn’t try to convince readers that one was better than the other was. I also found the patent lawsuits fascinating. Overall, I learned a lot about these men that had a vision and pursued it relentlessly.

St. Martin’s Press and John Bainbridge, Jr. provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. This is my honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way. Publication date is currently set for May 24, 2022.

[Pernette · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Bainbridge Jr.'s Gun Baron's: The Weapons That Transformed America and The Men Who Invented Them Review was not what I expected. I was expecting an account of the major gun inventors and how they came about their inventions but was surprised that there was far more detail about the information that I thought was unnecessary. There was too much information regarding the families and not enough about the inventor and his gun invention. Though there was very much information and extremely detailed.

[Bonnye Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an invitation from St. Martin's Press to read and review this history via Netgalley. I thank Netgalley, John Bainbridge Jr, and St. Martins for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this work of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work.

This is a precise and complete history of the folks who improved and fashioned firearms as we know them today in the USA. Colt, Remington, Smith&Wesson, and Winchester are names and families familiar to most of us. Still, I found it very interesting to see a breakdown of who contributed to each improvement that resulted in the complex, modern weapon as we see it today, and how the advancement of manufacturing and machining came into the modern age on the tail of those advances, as well.

Those for or against individual ownership of guns can, given the chance, see the beauty and complexity of today's weapons, and must admire the advances made in other fields through the work of these old gunsmithing families. There have been several times in my long life that I have been grateful that someone besides the bad guy was armed. And advertising and posting gun-free zones are an open invitation to crazies. In a life without the second amendment, only the crazies and bad guys would be armed. We need to bring common sense into the solutions we seek to de-escalate gun violence in our cities and towns.

But whichever side of the problem your heart pulls you to, we should all be thankful for these innovative men and women who brought their ideas into our modern world in all fields of manufacturing.

Netgalley via St. Martin's Press
pub date May 24, 2022
Reviewed on May 29, 2022, at Goodreads, Netgalley, Barnes&Noble, BookBub, and Kobo. AmazonSmile was not accepting reviews at this time.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Could Be An Entertaining - And Equally Informative - History or Discovery Documentary Series. I went into this book expecting something more along the lines of Nathan Gorenstein's The Guns Of John Moses Browning or Jeff Guin's War On The Border... and got a touch of an amalgamation of the two. Like the Gorenstein book, this book is focused on the lives of a select group of men that became icons of gun manufacturing in the US... and how they got there and what their legacies became. Like the Guin book, this book also tells the surrounding history and places these men's live solidly within their historical context, mostly between the Mexican-American war in the front half of the 19 century and the US Civil War and Reconstruction in the back half of the same century. Unlike the Gorenstein text, you're not going to find a lot of technical discussion of the exact details and features of the guns in question here - though you *will* find quite a bit about the various lawsuits and threats of lawsuits that helped some of these men and hindered others of them. Overall, a solid look at the men and the early days of their empires whose names last even into the new Millennium. Very much recommended.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

The problem with books of this type, industrial revolution era inventions, is that it doesn't matter what the invention is, in fact you could just call them widgets and it wouldn't matter, as the stories are all the same. The stories end up being about capitalism how so and so sued so and so or how he used widget one so well he made enough money to be rich and invest in widget two. That along with ad nauseam family histories which tend to blend after the tenth one and you get a pretty unexciting read.

It was just okay. Wish this was more about the guns.

[Tom Mathews · Rating 4 out of 5]

The impact of the Industrial Revolution that took place mostly in the nineteenth century was seen most dramatically on the world’s battlefields. Up through the Napoleonic wars, armies faced off against each other armed mostly with muzzle-loaded muskets which the average soldier could load and fire no more than three times per minute. One hundred years later, the fields of Europe were turned into a bloody quagmire of broken bodies, due in large part to advances in the weapons the soldiers carried. Much of these advances came from across the Atlantic where a whole slew of inventors, manufacturers and innovators sought to create and market weapons that could fire multiple rounds between reloads. Many of these entrepreneurs have names familiar to us even today: Colt, Spencer, Henry, Smith, Wesson, and Winchester.

Bainbridge’s research into the lives of these men is impressive, but less thrilling than one would expect for this subject. They all participated in many battles, but their battlefields were the courtrooms as they fought against each other to defend their patents. When we picture a handgun today, it’s difficult to imagine that each consists of at least a dozen patented innovations, from the rotating cylinder to metal-cased cartridges, all designed by men determined to own the exclusive right to build and sell the world’s finest weapons. This was not a group known for playing well together.

War has ever been the friend of arms merchants, and such was the case with the American Civil War. Some patents expired and in other cases, parties reached compromises beneficial to all concerned and the business of selling weapons to the government made tycoons out of many of them. When the war ended, many were left with stockpiles of weapons that they ultimately sold to other countries so that they could wage their wars.

It’s at this point where I began to have difficulty in seeing these people as inventors and businessmen that Bainbridge portrayed them as and began to see them in a much more diabolical light. Whatever their intentions were, they were in a business that could thrive only in time of war or conflict. Is it even possible to engage in such a business and still promote peace? (FYI: These musings are my own and are not reflected in the book’s text.)

Bottom line: This is a well-researched history into the lives of those whose industry has an impact at least as powerful today as it did when they lived. It is to everyone’s benefit that this information is available. As Bainbridge points out.

“The names Colt, Winchester, Remington, and Smith & Wesson endure today as company identifiers, each calling up visions of earlier eras and individual Americans whose old-fashioned pluck and Yankee ingenuity drove them to make their marks for country and what they saw as progress.”

* The review book was based on an advanced reading copy obtained at no cost from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. While this does take any ‘not worth what I paid for it’ statements out of my review, it otherwise has no impact on the content of my review.

FYI: On a 5-point scale I assign stars based on my assessment of what the book needs in the way of improvements:
• 5 Stars – Nothing at all. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
• 4 Stars – It could stand for a few tweaks here and there but it’s pretty good as it is.
• 3 Stars – A solid C grade. Some serious rewriting would be needed in order for this book to be considered good or memorable.
• 2 Stars – This book needs a lot of work. A good start would be to change the plot, the character development, the writing style and the ending.
• 1 Star - The only thing that would improve this book is a good bonfire.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Guns are part of American history. The Kentucky rifle, The Colt six-shooter, the Winchester rifle have all played a part in American history and American myths. John Bainbridge, Jr. seeks to bring to life the men behind these iconic firearms in the Gun Barons.

Samuel Colt was the first gun baron, but it took him two tries before he was successful with selling his revolver. It took the endorsement of a Texas Ranger and the Mexican-American War plus a few court cases before his became a major weapons producer. The Remington family took a while before they became known for their rifles. Oliver Winchester made a fortune in shirts before he got involved in creating weapons. Horace Smith was employed by Ethan Allen in helping improve the Allen pepperbox pistol before he joined with Daniel Wesson to make pistols. Christopher Spencer got interested in gun making from time spent on his grandfather's farm. Each man had to overcome obstacles to succeed. Some achieved only fleeting success while others went on to great profits and renown. But each story is intertwined with others and part of the tapestry of American history.

If the reader want an overview of the weapon makers of 19th century America, Gun Barons is the book for you. The reader will gain an appreciation for how everything works since "no man is an island unto themselves" (John Donne).

[Brock Pedersen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one, Bainbridge did a great job of detailing the history of these household names and how they came about while sidelining any bias he may have on the topic. This book gives a new perspective to the events of the 19th century and how the innovation of modern weapons changed the course of history, each new and improved firearm being a reaction to the dangers of the American west and the tensions of the Civil War. Capitalism is a hell of a drug.

[Coleman Crosby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Abraham Lincoln personally testing firearms for the military was pretty epic.

[Joni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just ok. At times it was hard to keep track of the different characters. Also - it would have been a better book if the author went into details about the different gun mechanisms and perhaps supplied sketches. This could have been a much better book!

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy on this history of both the beginning of industrialized gun manufacturing and American history.

American progress was based not only on its people, both oppressors and oppressed, but on what only can be called American ingenuity. Where some could see a stream, others could see a place to build a factory and use that stream to power their new machines. One person's piece of metal was another's safety pin for clothing. This ingenuity and can do spirit was aimed at firearms in hopes of creating a repeating rifle, one that needed not to be loaded after ever shot, which would make a difference not only on the battlefield, or the frontier but in creating profits. And with these profits came patents, lawsuits, patent infringements, companies forming and collapsing, and product being sold to both sides during the coming Civil War. John Bainbridge, Jr, in Gun Barons: The Weapons That Transformed America and the Men Who Invented Them tells of the growth of this new industry, the barons, the inventors, and those who made important advances but have been forgotten by history.

To be clear this is a book about the industry and those who created it, and while various models of guns are discussed this is not a study of ballistics or which is better or why. The book begins with a brief story of one inventor who had the idea, after a long career of making and selling his patents, usually for pittances for a new kind of rifle. The “Volition Repeater” as he dubbed it fired twelve "Rocket Ball" cartridges through a series of actions and levers. As the inventor could never get kinks out of his invention, he sold the patent and moved on. And soon other men would be there with ingenuity, technical skill, hucksterism or just plain old American cash. The names will be familiar from readers of history or westerns, Henry, Spencer, and Winchester, Colt and Smith and Wesson, some who succeeded and created companies that well except for bankruptcies or two continue to this day, or were absorbed by cannier, deep pocketed and better lawyered companies.

The book is very well written and researched. Again this is not a history of guns and their usage, more about the industry that produced them, which some readers might not find as interesting, preferring stories of gun usage rather than milling patent battles. However people would be missing out. This is a very interesting book that never sags or gets bogged down in the details. Even when discussing early men's fashions and the growth of sewing machines which helped Oliver Winchester so much. The detail is quite informative, and Mr. Bainbridge can even make patent law interesting and even a little cliffhangerish in parts. The footnotes are as readable as the text in many places. The book paints a wonderful description of what life in these early factories with the sounds of metal, water pouring by the heat, and the hopes of some of these men trying to figure out better ways, and even more importantly profitable ways.

This is the second book that I have read by Mr. Bainbridge, and I really enjoyed it, and learned quite a bit more industrialization than I thought I would care to know. Recommended for people interested in both American history, or gun development or manufacturing. Also for readers of both Guns of John Moses Browning by Nathan Gorenstein and Triggernometry by Eugene Cunningham.

[Greg Mcneilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

GUN BARONS: The weapons that transformed America and the Men who Invented them | John Bainbridge, Jr., St. Martn’s Press (2022) 352p.

It is one book, yet five biographies. Bainbridge tells the stories of Colt, Remington, Winchester, Smith, and Wesson. To understand their inventions and the process, Bainbridge takes the reader back to the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in New England, where most of them launched, sprouting from the Connecticut river basin, which formed, at the time, America’s fertile production crescent.

While their product lines differed, they pursued the same quest: a repeating firearm with a waterproof bullet (cartridge). Before these remarkable advances, firearms were stuck in laborious flintlock platforms. The breakthrough came with the man who invented the household safety pin (Walter Hunt), whose imperfect gun design nevertheless provided an innovative design. Nevertheless, Hunt could not commercialize his product the way the subject of this tome did.

Much like the patent fights over a combustible engine, massive legal fights broke out over gun patents fueled by vibrant labor swapping enabled by their proximity. Safe to say, they did not have non-compete agreements in the 1850s.

Bainbridge provides captivating stories of when repeating firearms were first faced in conflict. When the opposing force - Indian or Rebel - did not know its existence, they underestimated their smaller counterparts. Given their foe’s unforeseen technical advantage, they were soon on the losing end.

Barrons is less about the guns and more about the lives of those who brought them to scale. Remington, for example, is a youthful poet and pacifist, hardly the profile one expects. Winchester, a carpenter, ran a haberdashery before turning to a firearm manufacturer.

What is also clear and missing from any modern narrative is the overwhelming historical evidence that guns have been, more than not, instruments of progress and protective of freedoms than not. Gun Barrons is a fascinating look into the lives behind those that made firearms more of a mainstream part of our American story, built upon our common birthright in the Bill of Rights catapulted into the next century by Yankee ingenuity.

[Jennifer Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gun Barons: The Weapons that transformed America and the Men who invented them by John Bainbridge Jr is a historical account of the evolution of firearms in the 19th century. The men whose names have become synonymous with American guns. Names like Colt, Smith & Wesson, Winchester and Remington are legendary and are a part of the American story of ingenuity. However, their beginnings and their journey into legend isn’t as well known. These men were at the right time with the inventions. From the westward expansions in the 1840s to the Civil War and into the Gilded Age and through their own trials and tribulations, bankruptcy and competition, these men became legends in the American ideal of individualism They helped bring America as one of the world’s industrial powers. Gun Barons tells the stories behind the men and the guns that made them famous.
Gun Barons presents an interesting history and sets out to capture the boldness and ingenuity of not just these famous gun makers but the people who bought their guns as well. I found it fascinating to read the stories behind the men and their famous names. I also loved hearing about the lesser known men who helped the legends. Names like the White Brothers, Rollin, Josiah Dennis “JD” and Mason who all worked for Samuel Colt, Christopher Spencer, and John May Davies. At one point, the author presents the competition between the Henry and Spencer rifles. However, I would have appreciated pictures that showed the differences visually. As a gun novice, I do not know the differences and nuances between guns. Overall, it was an interesting read about the history of guns in America. If you are interested in the history or the evolution of guns in the 19th century, I recommend Gun Barons.

Gun Barons: The Weapons that transformed America and the Men who invented them
is available in hardcover, eBook, and audiobook

[Len Knighton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a supporter of the National Rifle Association. I believe the Second Amendment to the Constitution should be repealed. I have owned only one firearm in my lifetime and I have not shot any gun in more than fifty years. But there is no doubt that the evolution of weaponry is an integral part of the history of the United States. It is a fascinating story as are the lives of the men who invented and developed these instruments of death and destruction.
GUN BARONS is the story of imaginative men who took their ideas, (and others), tweeted and tinkered with them, and made guns more efficient and more deadly.
They were also tenacious and persistent in their quest for the perfect handgun or rifle, and once they discovered them, they fiercely fought to hold on to the ideas. Much of this history deals with patents, who owned them, who wanted them.
Author John Bainbridge, Jr. does not take up a lot of pages on military history. The Civil War occupies a few chapters. Indeed, the refusal to sell repeating rifles to the Confederate Army by our Barons certainly contributed to their demise.
The other conflict that draws our attention is the war with the Plain Indians in the mid 1870's, with a focus on the Battle of the Little Big Horn, June 25, 1876. As Bainbridge correctly points out, controversy continues to swirl around the battle on various fronts. That many Indians were armed with repeating rifles was no small factor in this, their final victory over the white man.
This was not an easy book to rate. The subject is not, in my opinion, one that would inspire massive interest. Bainbridge holds our attention with skillful writing and, for me, short chapters.

Four stars slightly waning

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was pretty good and interesting. It is not a book about EVERYONE in the firearms business in the 19th century, but spends it time explaining how it all started from the beginning of rifled barrels to interchangeable parts, to the build up for repeating weapons in the Mexican War and the Civil War.

I was somewhat left wanting a bit more on each of the "Barons" - who are Remington, Winchester, Spencer, henry, Smith, Wesson, and Colt (not necessarily in that order). It is very interesting from a business perspective to see how the genius of the inventors did not automatically provide a windfall of income. In fact, it appears that most of the time, the inventors did not capitalize on their inventions as much as the investors did, if it made a profit at all.

I had previously read a biography on John Browning and wondered why he didn't have his own company, and the realization that MOST of the mechanical geniuses were similar leads to the understanding of how expensive it is to not only make the weapons, but the mass produced and marketed.

Give this a try - a pretty easy read and entertaining, even though I wish it delved a bit deeper into the development of the "brands" a bit more.

[Kristen Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this copy of Gun Barons as an ARC through Netgalley. John Bainbridge Jr. does a bang up job of presenting lots of information in an easy to read and follow formant. I found it absolutely fascinating, that most of the major players in the gun world were all alive at the same right around the Civil war. "The founding fathers of American gun empires lived at the right time. Free of tyranny and drunk on possibility, the United States barreled into the mid-nineteenth century with a sense of conquest and creativity." (pg 8). Prior to reading this book I knew nothing at all about any of the men responsible for the rifles and hand guns that helped to build the west and fight the greatest war ever waged on American soil Samuel Colt, Eliphalet Remington, Horace3 Smith and Daniel Baird Wesson are just a few of the interesting men you will learn about if you read this book. I am not a gun owner or have ever shot a gun of any sort, but as a lover of all things to do with history, I truly enjoyed this book.

[Todd Kiger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Samuel Colt, Eliphalet Remington, Oliver Winchester, Edwin and Daniel Wesson, Horace Smith, Christopher Spencer...The who’s who of American firearms history. “Gun Barons” by John Bainbridge, Jr. is a very good and well written historical look at these men and inventors and how they shaped the American firearm industry in the mid-1800’s to turn of the century.

Bainbridge does an excellent job intertwining the lives of these inventors and key figures in the development of the firearm industry. The author expertly describes the conflicts with each other, the competition they had in firearm development and the relationships they had with each other. If you’re interested in firearm history and development of the American industry, this is a very solid read.

Where I felt the author failed somewhat was ending the book. It was as if he wasn’t sure how or where to end the his historical recount. The ending seemed a bit disjointed and just some historical facts thrown in at the end.

It’s a great read for three quarters of the book, just the last quarter left something to be desired.

[Gregory Howe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much more than a documentary of invention, the stories place us in the subject's lives, decisions, and legal battles. These iconic names of armament have a permanent place in the American zeitgeist. The narrative flows interestingly, there are many names to keep in one's mind as you progress through the chapters. There is a handy diagram at the beginning of the book for reference. Wonderful depictions of the Worlds Fairs and the behavior of the exhibitors provide special insight. Reading about the many failures and bankruptcies is disheartening; some rise like a phoenix from their ashes but some do not. The government of the U.S.A plays a large part in the success or failure of these protagonists especially during the American Civil War, the War between the States, The War of Northern Aggression. Several battles are described in which the arms played an important part. Post Civil War we become acquainted with Custer's predicament. It seems as if the names of these most American of corporations have actually been recently purchased by foreign elements. Who woulda' thunk it?

[Tim Deforest · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, well-written history of the various inventors and industrialists responsible for advancements in weapons technology in the 19th Century. Colt, Remington, Wincester, Smith & Wesson, Spencer, and Henry all invented or invested in weapons such as revolvers and repeating rifles. A combination of the Industrial Age and the politics of the day (Westward expansion plus the Mexican War & Civil War) led to time of innovation. The various players often clashed with each other in pursuit of government contracts or patent infringement lawsuits, but what they accomplished changed the world--the author allows us to decide for ourselves whether these changes were largely good or bad.

I also appreciate how the author used specific events (such as the first use of revolvers by the Texas Rangers in 1844 or the use of Spencer rifles by Union calvary in the Civil War) to effectively emphasize the enormous impact the new weapons had on the world.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The men in America didn't care for the monopoly held by Europe for the manufacture of muskets and other firearms needed to survive in the wilderness, so a number of them became inventors who changed the history of firearms (and warfare) forever. The personal lives of the nineteenth century men whose names became synonymous with firearms is meticulously detailed, as are the prevailing politics of their time. As one who is more familiar with the Brown Bess musket and cannons of the eighteenth century, I wanted pictures to understand all the differences between each inventor's weapons and the progressive modifications. But this was a very interesting read.
I requested and received a free e-book copy from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley. Thank you!

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obvious what the book is about from the title, and it certainly delivers. A thoroughly researched account of the key characters in the development of those iconic weapons that even those of us who have zero interest in guns will have heard of even if we don’t necessarily understand the technology behind them. It’s a fascinating book, even if I personally found it somewhat rambling and repetitive – just how many bankruptcies and how much business rivalry can hold our attention? But it’s an important read, giving a background to America’s obsession with guns, and certainly anyone one interested in the technical details will find much to salivate over here.

[Earl Pike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tremendously detailed history of firearms development in America. In fact, there have been a bit too much detail. The book was arduous in parts that delved too deeply into personal aspects of business dealings that did not feel particularly relevant. It became academic and less interesting. Its interesting to learn about patents and their role in shaping the competitive landscape to provide firearms. Vignettes around how specific breakthroughs affected military engagements were particularly delightful. If there was a second volume that continued to follow firearms developments into the twentieth century, I would read it.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won an advanced copy of this book on Goodreads. An interesting and entertaining read from beginning to end. This book brings to life the history of firearms and the men and families who invented them. From Colt, Remington, Smith, Wesson, Spencer, Henry, and Winchester. The book explained how firearms shaped the history of the USA ending at the end of the American Civil War. The book also discusses the history that played out during that time when those men developed their brands of firearms. I found this book to be engaging and informative.

[RoF · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy from Goodreads.

This book lacks pictures to better understand how the guns were designed and in which context they were invented. Nevertheless, this book is vivid and clearly presents the life of the innovative guns barons. It is interesting to see that a mix of creativity, entrepreneurship, luck, collaboration and industrial progress generated objects that had a strong influence on the rise of a nation.

[D · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting book that somehow manages to tie together the lives and families of multiple famous firearms inventors while situating these men within the context of the world they lived in. I loved Bainbridge chose to focus more on the people than the weapons. I feel that there are plenty of sources to look into to learn about the inventions themselves, but learning about the inventors instead was really interesting!

[Ivan L Hutton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good narrative writing. I wish that the Gattling gun had been included (invented in 1861, used in the civil war) in this book, at least noted in passing. Even though the Hogchkiss guns (invented in 1872) originated from France, because they were such important weapons against Native Americans (e.g., Wounded Knee) and all the way into WWII), I would have at least noted these guns/cannon in this book.

[Brian Grouhel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was for me, an extremely interesting book. The author chronicles the hi points of several of the most important firearms invetors and manufacturers in American history. Names like Colt, Spencer, Henry, Winchester, Smith and Wesson whose acheivments are laid out in a very readable book. This was hard to put down!

[Eva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Learning about the men behind the weapons teaches us about the hows and whys things happen and the evolution of weaponry. This book focuses on the gunsmiths of the 1830s to the 1870s. The book explains the men behind the designs and what they went through to get to their level with the collaboration, interactions, and lawsuits. It's an interesting read for the historical aspect of guns.

[Mark Borsi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provides excellent, entertaining, and well documented information on the history and use of firearms in the United States. It is a well defined piece of the puzzle in the reasons that the USA has firearms baked into its DNA as well as our Constitution.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a history of the people behind the names. We learn about inventions, improvements, finances, families, failures and successes. It is an interesting read. I read an electronic copy for reviewing purposes courtesy of Net Galley.