Patented in 1836, the Colt pistol with its revolving cylinder was the first practical firearm that could shoot more than one bullet without reloading. Its most immediate impact was on the expansionism of the American west, where white emigrants and US soldiers came to depend on it, and where Native Americans came to dread it. In making the revolver, Colt also changed American manufacturing, and revolutionized industry in the United States. Rasenberger brings the brazenly ambitious and profoundly innovative industrialist and leader Samuel Colt to vivid life. During an age of promise and progress, and also of slavery, corruption, and unbridled greed, Colt not only helped to create this America, he completely embodied it.-- adapted from info provided

Can a young blind horse survive in the badlands of Montana? Find out in this beautiful new edition of a classic American tale. Now celebrating its 80th anniversary with beautifully redesigned new edition featuring lots of extras, The Blind Colt is a timeless tale of survival and friendship. This classic volume now features an appreciation by Matt Myers, a piece from author Glen Rounds on his inspiration for the story, and facts and resources about wild mustangs today. In the badlands, where the ground is soft but the slopes are steep and the vegetation is scarce, it can be difficult for a wild horse to survive. Even more so if that horse is blind. But this young colt has his strong mare of a mother looking out for him, and his other senses help him smell the friendly prairie dogs, feel for rough terrain, and hear whenever wolves draw near-- sometimes well before anyone else in his herd. That's not all. A boy named Whitey, about ten years old, and his ranch-owning Uncle Torwal watch from the sidelines whenever the colt and his herd pass through the plains near their home. Whitey, especially, hopes the young colt grows strong, just as he hopes they might get a chance to meet someday. And when a rough winter starts to settle in, he might just get his wish. This classic of children's literature in the tradition of War Horse, The Black Stallion, and Misty of Chincoteague comes from one of America's master storytellers. Glen Rounds grew up in the Dakota badlands, and drew from details from his own life on a ranch to depict one little colt's struggle to make it through the winter.

The fascinating story of the American inventor and manufacturer who perfected the revolver Samuel Colt (1814-1862) first patented his "Colt" revolver in 1835 and thereby redefined the architecture of handguns. This stunning book is the first to present in detail the evolution of his most famous invention and to document the unsurpassed Colt firearms collections held by the Wadsworth Atheneum. Colt designed his revolvers with an artistic sensibility--paying particular attention to form and beauty and juxtaposing colors and finishes to heighten the visual effects. He was also one of the first American manufacturers to secure celebrity endorsements and to commission paintings by renowned artists like George Catlin to promote his arms. Colt's standards for excellence, industrial foresight, and quest for market domination are explored in light of primary documents that reveal his constant battles to protect his patents. Essays discuss Colt's personal collection of historic firearms as well as the memorial collection of Colt-manufactured firearms, the relationship between art and commerce as they pertain to the inventor's career, and his international celebrity. Richly illustrated and beautifully produced, this volume presents the artistry of the firearms that Colt worked so diligently to perfect--as well as his promotional abilities that made a tremendous impact on American culture.

The Third Edition Book of Colt Firearms is a complete Colt library in one 648-page volume, with over 1.2 million words, 1,250 B&W images, and 75 color images. This mammoth work tells the Colt story from 1832 to the present. No other reference book covers the Colt company and its products in such detail.

An in-the-room account of John Colt’s scandalous nineteenth-century murder trial from “America’s principal chronicler of its greatest psychopathic killers” (Boston Review). In this masterful account, renowned true-crime historian Harold Schechter takes you into the life and crimes of convicted murderer John Caldwell Colt, drawing parallels between John’s rise to notoriety and his brother Samuel Colt’s rise to fame as the inventor of the legendary revolver. With a killing that made headlines around the nation, John Colt became a cultural touchstone whose shocking villainy inspired and provoked such writers as Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, and Herman Melville. Unlike his brother, John lived a nomadic existence, bouncing from one job to another. His one distinction, writing a reference accounting book, would play a part in his fall from grace. For in New York City, on September 17, 1841, John murdered printer Samuel Adams with a hatchet during a heated argument over proceeds from book sales. A media circus ensued, galvanizing the penny press, which printed lurid headlines and gruesome woodcut illustrations. The standing-room-only trial created unforgettable moments in legal history, including such dramatic evidence as Samuel Adams’s decomposed head. The verdict and its aftermath would reverberate throughout the country and beyond, giving John Colt lasting infamy. “[Schechter] leads us through Colt’s trial with such precision that you can smell the cigar smoke in the courtroom. . . . Killer Colt succeeds in making us care about this story now by showing why it mattered to so many people then.” —HistoryNet