American Gun: A History of the U.S. in Ten Firearms

SEAL Team 3 chief Chris Kyle served four combat tours in Operation Iraqi Freedom and elsewhere. For his bravery in battle, he was awarded two Silver Stars, five Bronze Stars with Valor, two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, one Navy and Marine Corps Commendation, and numerous other citations. Following his combat deployments, he became chief instructor for training Naval Special Warfare Sniper and Counter-Sniper teams, and he authored the Naval Special Warfare Sniper Doctrine, the first Navy SEAL sniper manual.

Kyle is the author of the New York Times #1 bestseller American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History. He became president of Craft International (www.craftintl.com), a world-class leader in training and security, and cofounded the FITCO Cares Foundation. He lived with his family in Texas, where he devoted much of his spare time to supporting veterans.

As this book was being completed, Chris Kyle and his trusted friend Chad Littlefield died while trying to help a troubled veteran. Chief Kyle lived by a personal motto that "it is our duty to serve those who serve us," and he and Littlefield died honoring this creed.

William Doyle is an award-winning author based in New York. His 2011 book A Soldier's Dream: Captain Travis Patriquin and the Awakening of Iraq was hailed by Fox News as "a phenomenal book, staggering," and by the Huffington Post as "a truly inspirational story about an American soldier who epitomized our country's values." In 2012 he coauthored A Mission from God, the memoir of civil rights giant James Meredith. He also served as director of original programming and executive producer for HBO.