Revolver: Sam Colt and the Six-Shooter That Changed America

Historian Rasenberger (The Brilliant Disaster) chronicles the life and times of gunmaker Samuel Colt (1814–1862) in this colorful and richly digressive biography. Born in Hartford, Conn., Colt sailed to Calcutta on a merchant ship at age 16, and, according to the “central creation myth” of the Colt revolver, drew inspiration from the ship’s capstan to carve a wooden model of a gun that could shoot multiple bullets without having to be reloaded. (His critics later claimed that he’d stolen the “rotating cylinder” concept from a pistol used by British soldiers in India.) Following his return to America in 1831, Colt traveled the country selling “hits of nitrous oxide” to fund development of his invention, paid for friendly press, and competed in gun trials held by the U.S. Ordnance Department. He met with little success until the Mexican-American War and westward expansion spiked demand for firearms. Rasenberger notes the influence of Colt’s mass production techniques on the automobile industry, and describes how “tens of thousands of guns” produced during the Civil War “enabled dark tendencies in the postwar nation.” Secondary figures, including Colt’s brother John, whose murder conviction inspired an Edgar Allan Poe story, are sketched with wit and precision. This rollicking and informative account will delight American history buffs. (May)