UNIT 1012 BOOK CLUB: AMERICAN SNIPER – THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE MOST LETHAL SNIPER IN U.S. MILITARY HISTORY

INTERNET SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Sniper_%28book%29

American Sniper
Paperback cover
Author	Chris Kyle Scott McEwen Jim DeFelice
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject	Personal memories
Publisher	William Morrow and Company, an imprint of HarperCollins
Publication date	January 2, 2012
Media type	Hardcover Audiobook Paperback
Pages	400
ISBN	978-0062082350

American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History is a memoir by United States Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, written with Scott McEwen and Jim DeFelice. With 255 kills, 160 of them officially confirmed by the Pentagon, Kyle is the deadliest marksman in U.S. military history. The book was published by William Morrow and Company on January 2, 2012, and appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list for 37 weeks.

The memoir has sold over 1.2 million copies across all formats (hardcover, paper and ebook), including 700,000 copies in 2015 alone, making it one of the best-selling books of 2015. It landed atop all the major best-seller lists including the aforementioned The New York Times, and Publishers Weekly, USA Today and No. 2 on Amazon. Its film adaptation directed by Clint Eastwood and featuring Bradley Cooper as Kyle was released in 2014.

Post-publication retraction

In July 2014, the sub-chapter "Punching Out Scruff Face" was removed from later editions of the book, after a three-week trial in U.S. Federal Court where the jury found that the author, Chris Kyle, had unjustly enriched himself by defaming plaintiff Jesse Ventura. In the book, Kyle described blackening the eye of "Scruff Face", whom he later identified in media interviews as Jesse Ventura. The jury awarded $500,000 for defamation and $1,345,477.25 for unjust enrichment. The lawsuit, Ventura v. Kyle, is being appealed by the defendant's estate to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

In December 2014, attorneys for Ventura filed a separate lawsuit against HarperCollins, the parent company of the publisher, for failing to check the accuracy of the story it used in publicity. The suit alleges that the false account used in publicity had "increased sales" and generated "millions of dollars for HarperCollins."

Other controversies

Secondary sources said Kyle's family claimed he donated all his book proceeds to Veterans' Charity, but reports surfaced that he had kept most of the profit for himself. National Review rebutted the reported claim that all proceeds of his book went to veterans' charities. According to reports, around 2 percent ($52,000) went to the charities, while Kyle's family took $3 million.

Film adaptation

A film adaptation of the book directed by Clint Eastwood and featuring Bradley Cooper as Kyle was released by Warner Bros. and had its world première on November 11, 2014, at the American Film Institute Festival, followed by a limited theatrical release in the United States on December 25, 2014. It received a wide release January 16, 2015.