Over the decades, I've read a lot of books on firearms...and a few of those are really outstanding...but it's only rarely that I am as positively impressed...excited, actually... as I have been by this glorious book. The book is primarily a collection of photographs, and those photographs are gorgeous. If you're interested in a book on this subject, you already probably see a lot of beauty in these old guns; but, Dennis Adler seems to have a special talent for magnifying and enhancing that beauty. Sharply-focused, well-illuminated, often highly-detailed pictures of wonderful old guns, many photographed against sumptuous backgrounds which not only avoid detracting and distracting from the guns pictured, but actually add historical meaning and context to them...this author has a talent for photography of guns (and cars too, or so I've been told) that I've not often seen before. And, the price: I'm accustomed to paying very high prices for good gun books, something I accept because I assume that the market for such books is too small for the publishers to recover their costs through high volume. Well, this book is for that same market, and it only costs $18 from Amazon (and, I think, $30 list), and it's as good as some of the best firearms books ever published. I've just received Vanderlinden's truly excellent book on FN pistols: invaluable text and great photos, but it cost $65 and it's all black & white (and Adler's "Guns of the American West" is in color, completely in color...you should see the case colors on some of the SAAs.). I've just received Brunner's "The Colt Pocket Hammerless Automatic Pistols II": great photos, but this one costs $80(!), and wastes 78 of its 240 pages on a mindless, mind-numbing list of guns issued to generals. Adler's book has ~330 pages, and not a single one is wasted.

Speaking of text: Adler's text in "Guns of the American West" is very good, and does a good job of discussing the guns, the historical backdrop, and the place of those guns in that history. This book does not have nearly the kind of detail and depth of a classic like "A study of the Colt Single Action Army Revolver" of Graham, Kopec and Moore, and it can't: Adler's photographs shove out the text, and that is as it should be. This is primarily a pictorial history.

And the price...perhaps I shouldn't keep returning to this, because the book is excellent, at any price. But in a field in which we've gotten accustomed to regularly paying $60 to $90 for good books (and hundreds of dollars, when those books, however mediocre, go out of print), I sincerely appreciate a publisher and an author who provide us with a great book at a fair price. In every way, Dennis Adler and Chartwell Books have provided a great service to those of us who can find fascination in a worn Smith topbreak, and they've treated us as though they respect us.

It is amazing that one book could contain this breadth of coverage on such a vast topic. The images are exquisite, and detailed. Lighting and composition of Dennis' sets, featuring historic firearms posed with period accessories truly enhance the subjects photographed. And the text accompanying the photos draws on Dennis own experience, his extensive research, and personal communication with many experts and collectors of the firearms exhibited. Also, Dennis has actually fired many of the guns represented as well, adding the flavor of personal experience to the other features of the book.

The publisher has done a superb job of printing the photos, preserving detail and subtle colors as well. This is really an incredible bargain for anyone enjoying the history and mechanical development of firearms from the colorful era of US History known as the Old West.

Truly a "coffee table" book that will probably spend more time in the hands than on the table!!!

Dennis Adler does it again. I do wish it were not so inexpensive - it looks like it could be fluff and images but in fact this is an informative, Excellent book on all fronts - and the images are anything but superficial - they are stunning (as one would expect - see all his car books).
I didn't think I would like this one as much as a single topic book, but the romance of the Western world came through and wins the day. I am sure every Hollywood prop man will buy a copy to make sure they give the right gun to the right outlaw or sheriff!