A provocative history that reveals how guns—not abortion, race, or religion—are at the heart of America's cultural divide. Gunfight is a timely work examining America’s four-centuries-long political battle over gun control and the right to bear arms. In this definitive and provocative history, Adam Winkler reveals how guns—not abortion, race, or religion—are at the heart of America’s cultural divide. Using the landmark 2008 case District of Columbia v. Heller—which invalidated a law banning handguns in the nation’s capital—as a springboard, Winkler brilliantly weaves together the dramatic stories of gun-rights advocates and gun-control lobbyists, providing often unexpected insights into the venomous debate that now cleaves our nation.

A former firearms executive pulls back the curtain on America's multibillion-dollar gun industry, exposing how it fostered extremism and racism, radicalizing the nation and bringing cultural division to a boiling point. As an avid hunter, outdoorsman, and conservationist-all things that the firearms industry was built on-Ryan Busse chased a childhood dream and built a successful career selling millions of firearms for one of America's most popular gun companies. But blinded by the promise of massive profits, the gun industry abandoned its self-imposed decency in favor of hardline conservatism and McCarthyesque internal policing, sowing irreparable division in our politics and society. That drove Busse to do something few other gun executives have done: he's ending his 30-year career in the industry to show us how and why we got here. Gunfight is an insider's call-out of a wild, secretive, and critically important industry. It shows us how America's gun industry shifted from prioritizing safety and ethics to one that is addicted to fear, conspiracy, intolerance, and secrecy. It recounts Busse's personal transformation and shows how authoritarianism spreads in the guise of freedom, how voicing one's conscience becomes an act of treason in a culture that demands sameness and loyalty. Gunfight offers a valuable perspective as the nation struggles to choose between armed violence or healing.

Known for his ability to make history come vividly to life, Reasoner strips away the dime novel legends and Hollywood myths to show us how the gunfighters of the Old West really lived, killed, and were killed. Praised for his “well-researched” (Booklist) and “lively, suspenseful” (Publishers Weekly) novels, James Reasoner now proves that truth can be even more exciting than fiction. Among the true stories he brings us: • Doc Holliday’s Last Gunfight • The Last Bloody Ride of the Dalton Gang • The End of the Notorious John Wesley Hardin • Wild Bill’s Tragic Mistake • The End of an Earp • Turkey Creek Canyon Shoot-out • Gunfight at Stone Corral • The Doolin Bunch vs. the U.S. Marshals • Rourke’s Bad Luck Robbery • Shoot-out at the Tuttle Dance Hall • Wichita’s New Year’s Day Gunfight • Bat Masterson and the Battle of the Plaza • The Sam Bass Gang’s Luck Runs Out • The Long Branch Saloon’s Spectacular Fray • Ben Thompson’s Christmas Day Shooting • The Man Who Killed the Man Who Killed Jesse James • and more! These are the shoot-outs and showdowns that gave the Wild West its name, recounted here with gritty accuracy, colorful detail, and all the drama of life—and death—on the frontier.

Amid the backdrop of World War II, race riots, and police corruption, a white police officer in Phoenix, Arizona, guns down an on-duty, black cop from his same department. The community's residents pick sides, and while the second trial ends in an acquittal, the battle isn't over. The detective, Frenchy Navarre, returns to duty but is shot dead when he encounters Officer Joe Davis, the slain officer's partner. This is just one of the fascinating tales told by Gordon A. Hunsaker, who also recalls: Surviving his youth on the streets of Los Angeles Fighting in the jungles of Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War A series of stories that cops normally only tell each other Piloting helicopters and airplanes while on the job Battling his toughest opponent cancer And much more! This compilation of musings, observations, and police lore is insightful, thought- provoking and, at times, just darn spooky. Any Arizona resident, law enforcement officer or lover of history will be thrilled to enter the exciting world of Gunfights & Gunfighters.

The book covers techniques used in modern gunfighting and a history of the author's 30 years on the LAPD and the SWAT team.

“James Butler Hickok, generally called ‘Wild Bill,’ epitomized the archetypal gunfighter, that half-man, half-myth that became the heir to the mystique of the duelist when that method of resolving differences waned. . . . Easy access to a gun and whiskey coupled with gambling was the cause of most gunfights--few of which bore any resemblance to the gentlemanly duel of earlier times. . . . Hickok’s gunfights were unusual in that most of them were ‘fair’ fights, not just killings resulting from rage, jealousy over a woman, or drunkenness. And, the majority of his encounters were in his role as lawman or as an individual upholding the law.”--from Wild Bill Hickok, Gunfighter Wild Bill Hickok (1837–1876) was a Civil War spy and scout, Indian fighter, gambler, and peace officer. He was also one of the greatest gunfighters in the West. His peers referred to his reflexes as “phenomenal” and to his skill with a pistol as “miraculous.” In Wild Bill Hickok, Gunfighter, Joseph G. Rosa, the world’s foremost authority on Hickok, provides an informative examination of Hickok’s many gunfights. Rosa describes the types of guns used by Hickok and illustrates his use of the plains’ style of “quick draw,” as well as examining other elements of the Hickok legend. He even reconsiders the infamous “dead man’s hand” allegedly held by Hickok when he was shot to death at age thirty-nine while playing poker. Numerous photographs and drawings accompany Rosa’s down-to-earth text.

Sifting factual information from among the lies, legends, and tall tales, the lives and battles of gunfighters on both sides of the law are presented in a who's who of the violent West