The Winchester: The Gun That Built an American Dynasty

A fascinating history of the family behind the popular firearm that changed America and the world

Arguably the world's most famous firearm, the Winchester Repeating Rifle was sought after by a cast of characters ranging from the settlers of the American West to the Ottoman Empire's Army. Laura Trevelyan, a descendant of the Winchester family, offers an engrossing personal history of the colorful New England clan responsible for the creation and manufacture of the "Gun that Won the West." Trevelyan chronicles the rise and fortunes of a great American arms dynasty, from Oliver Winchester's involvement with the Volcanic Arms Company in 1855 through the turbulent decades of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. She explores the evolution of an iconic, paradigm-changing weapon that has become a part of American culture; a longtime favorite of collectors and gun enthusiasts that has been celebrated in fiction, glorified in Hollywood, and applauded in endorsements from the likes of Annie Oakley, Theodore Roosevelt, Ernest Hemingway, and Native American tribesmen who called it "the spirit gun."

Laura Trevelyan is an anchor and correspondent for BBC News, based in New York City. She has reported for the BBC for over twenty years, covering stories from the Northern Ireland peace process to Haiti’s cholera epidemic and President Obama’s historic visit to Cuba. She is the author of A Very British Family: The Trevelyans and Their World.