A review of the book 'American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History' written by Chris Kyle with Scott McEwen & Jim DeFelice.
American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History' written by Chris Kyle with Scott McEwen & Jim DeFelice, the #1 New York Times bestselling memoir also happens to be the source for Clint Eastwood’s blockbuster movie which was nominated for six academy awards, including best picture.
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Coming up: A review of the book 'American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History' written by Chris Kyle with Scott McEwen & Jim DeFelice.
Namaste Friends. My name is 'Shinil Subramanian Payamal' and you are listening to the Historylogy podcast.
Before I proceed, a full disclosure: This book was bought with my own money and not been provided to me by the author or publisher.
Little bit about the author. SEAL Team 3 Chief Chris Kyle (1947-2013) was awarded two Silver Stars, five Bronze Stars with Valor, and numerous other citations. Following four combat tours in Iraq, he became chief instructor for training Naval Special Warfare sniper teams. He is the author of American Gun: A History of the U.S. in Ten Firearms. A native Texan, Kyle is survived by his wife, Taya, and their two children.
Let me read what is written on the inside flap of the book cover.
From 1999 to 2009, U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle recorded the most career sniper kills in United States military history. His fellow American warriors, whom he protected with deadly precision from rooftops and stealth positions during the Iraq War, called him “The Legend”; meanwhile, the enemy feared him so much they named him al-Shaitan (“the devil”) and placed a bounty on his head. Kyle, who was tragically killed in 2013, writes honestly about the pain of war—including the deaths of two close SEAL teammates—and in moving first-person passages throughout, his wife, Taya, speaks openly about the strains of war on their family, as well as on Chris. Gripping and unforgettable, Kyle’s masterful account of his extraordinary battlefield experiences ranks as one of the great war memoirs of all time.
Starting with the book review, the first thing I learnt while reading this book was that SEALs stands for ‘SEa, Air, Land’.
The first 100 odd pages of the book deal with the growing up years of Chris Kyle like a cowboy in Texas followed by Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) and then going to advanced training—officially known as SQT or SEAL Qualifying Training. The author has mentioned the various weapons used by the SEALs with a fair amount of detail also the gear used while being in Iraq.
Chris also talks about how medals have become more political than accurate when he had seen men who deserved a lot more and men who deserved a lot less rewarded by higher-ups negotiating for whatever public cause they were working on at that time.
The book has some really interesting and eye opening anecdotes like a particular time when the SEALs break into a house finding Caucasians who turned out to be Muslim Chechens. Other being his fear of heights especially when it came to jumping out of planes with parachutes.
The author also talks about fear of losing his friend and fellow Texan Marcus Luttrell who had gone missing after his team had been ambushed by hundreds of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.
He also mentions his experience with the Jundis, Arabic for soldiers, the local Iraqi units trained by the Americans, who were pathetic no matter which force they were with.
I found the repeated referral to bar fights and the continuous boasting of kill numbers to be a bit of a turnoff.
To conclude, I would like to say that the author has done a great job in telling us about how war is in real life and so different from what we see on TV and movies. The #1 New York Times bestselling memoir also happens to be the source for Clint Eastwood’s blockbuster movie which was nominated for six academy awards, including best picture. I personally recommend that you first read the book and then watch the movie.
I give this book 4.5/5. The printed price of this book is Rs. 370/- on Amazon India at the time of recording this podcast. I will provide the respective buy links and other related stuff in the show notes.
Last but not the least, thank you for spending your valuable time listening to this book review. Really grateful. Please don't forget to subscribe to the Historylogy podcast on your favourite podcasting app and also feel free to leave a review. Also, please check historylogy.com for all previous episodes. Thanks and looking forward to hearing from you. Take care and goodbye!