cover image Sniper: The Skills, the Weapons, and the Experiences

Sniper: The Skills, the Weapons, and the Experiences

Adrian Gilbert. St. Martin's Press, $24.95 (290pp) ISBN 978-0-312-11894-5

British military historian Gilbert traces the development of combat sniping from the American Revolution to the present and explains how modern sniper training is applied to operations in the field. His survey is replete with sniper stories ranging from the mortal wounding of Lord Horatio Nelson at Trafalgar (``the most successful single shot in the history of sniping'') to Marine Sgt. Carlos Hathcock's 93 confirmed kills in Vietnam. Gilbert provides a comprehensive account of the technological advances in rifles, ammunition, telescopic sights and night-vision devices and describes in detail how snipers are trained, a program that includes fieldcraft, camouflage, target identification, stalking, breath control, follow-through and marksmanship. The book will be disquieting to general readers but military buffs should find it engrossing. Photos. (Feb.)