American Sniper by Chris Kyle

American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History by Chris Kyle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I am starting with my bias because it deeply colors my entire reading of the book and therefore my review. My bias is first of all that I am one of those people who strongly supported our military personnel but thought it was fairly obvious that we should not be at war in Iraq as they had nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11 and there was also clearly no evidence that they had weapons of mass destruction. I was disturbed they wouldn't allow proper inspections of course, but war is a really big commitment and precisely because I support our military people, I thought we shouldn't endanger them unless we had a really good reason. My second bias is that I am one of those super annoying good works Christians, who doesn't believe that faith alone is all it takes to be in God's (metaphorical) good graces. I know, we are the most inconvenient and annoying, but with that out of the way, I turn to the book.

I thought seeing Chris Kyle's perspective was really enlightening because his thinking is so unlike my own and so unlike that of most authors I read. Expanding the way I view the world is a huge part of the reason I read books, so 5 stars for that. I thought his point about some of the rules of war endangering servicemen and women was especially salient, and I would hope that all the military heads read his book.

My issue is that Kyle refused to engage with any kind of critical thinking or philosophy in this book and that is really important when the book is fundamentally about having the most kills in a war with a poor justification. While he claims some general philosophical protection from Christianity, and some from the demonstrated sexism and cowardliness of his opponents, I was left cold. His philosophy is not actually the philosophy of Western Judeo-Christians, but the philosophy of Roman and Greek warriors to which Judeo-Christianity sprung up in direct opposition. He is a hero very much like Achilles, celebrated for his physical might in battle. WWJD-people need not apply to this story. I appreciate the risks he took for the love of our country. I love our country: our values as a democracy, the people who live in our country, and the troops who protect it. And I appreciate his honesty throughout. And I'm sorry he was killed after his return from the war while engaged in helping a fellow veteran. But giving his gun to a veteran he knew was struggling mentally is a pretty good indication of the type of critical-thinking lack throughout this book.

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American Gun by Chris Kyle

American Gun: A History of the U.S. in Ten Firearms by Chris Kyle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It's not in the book but Kyle was a marine and war hero, and the deadliest marksman in United States military history. (Of "American Sniper" fame.) After his return to the US, in 2009, he foiled two men trying to carjack him by grabbing his gun and shooting them before they were able to shoot him. Did he have any philosophical thoughts about guns in war or in domestic use? No, not really. His one thought is that having the best guns in war saves lives on your team. Other than that, this is just the facts and no analysis.

The historical facts, as stated by Kyle, are interesting. And the facts certainly persuade me that having the most up-to-date technologically advanced guns are necessary for warfare. However, Kyle talks about how mobsters in the US starting buying Tommy guns, the nickname for "Thompson submachine guns" with nary a commentary about what a complete disaster that was. Glocks became popular with police and criminals at the same time. What does that say about the lack of gun regulation? No thoughts from our gun expert Kyle.

Of course, the whole time I was reading this I kept thinking about what ultimately happened to Kyle. Kyle was murdered at 38 years old with his own .45-caliber pistol. He was murdered by a 25-year-old marine that Kyle knew was mentally ill but took to a shooting range because he believed shooting had therapeutic value. If Kyle had had a psychic premonition of his own death, would he have developed some analysis? What would that analysis have been?

Here are some more facts: https://lawcenter.giffords.org/facts/gun-violence-statistics/

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