The Hunting of Man Paperback

A cultural and military history of the sniper from 1643, when the first shot was fired by a sniper during the battle for Litchfield in the English Civil War, to the present day, when the sniper has become the embodiment of contemporary military strategy and technology. Since Robert Greville, Lord Brooke, commander of the Parliamentarian forces, was struck in the eye by a marksman positioned on the spire of Litchfield cathedral, the story of the sniper has been one of the gradual empowerment of the individual soldier over the massed battalions.

As military technology evolved to produce lighter and quieter firearms that could strike with accuracy over longer and longer distances, so the role of the talented individual marksman has become more central to the outcome of military conflicts. Andy Dougan tells the story of the sniper as seen in Vietnam, the First and Second World Wars, the American Civil War, the Boer War and up to the present day when the sniper is not only a battlefield phenomenon but a terrorist of almost phantom-like elusiveness in civil society.In three hundred and fifty years the history of the sniper has, more than any other military history, been the story of individuals: of high profile victims such as the Union General Sedgwick, whose legendary last words were 'They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance' to the celebrated shooters themselves. Andy Dougan, author of Dynamo, has written an engrossing human history of the men and women who have taken up the gun to expert and deadly effect.

It is a fascinating investigation of the mythology, the mystique and the often brutal truths of a most savage and skillful profession.