Good reading

[Fogman01]

I am on Vol II of Firearms of the American West by Louis A. Garavaglia and Charles G. Worman. The volumes are all about how, why, and when firearms were developed in the West. They are non-fiction and full of original quotes, writings, and technical descriptions yet the books read like an exciting novel. There are plenty of pictures too. You get a really good sense of why certain firearms were adopted for military use and not others. And the advantages of one type over another in certain situations. They describe a lot of firearms both civilian and military that I had never heard of plus there are good accounts of the iconic arms as well. They often use official reports and letters from officers at the western posts who were tasked to evaluate the arms in the field. I thought the books would be well researched but dry - no, these are fascinating, easy to read volumes and I would recommend them to anyone with an interest in western history or western firearms. There is no nostalgia or revisionist history - just straight facts researched from the original documents.