American Sniper

American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History is a work of autobiographical creative nonfiction by United States Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, written with Scott McEwen and Jim DeFelice. 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, as well as Publishers Weekly and USA Today, and it reached No. 2 on Amazon. Its film adaptation directed by Clint Eastwood and starring actor Bradley Cooper as Kyle was released in 2014. Plot overview American Sniper tells the story of Chris Kyle, a Navy SEAL who completed four tours in Iraq from 1999 to 2009. The book describes Kyle's upbringing in Odessa, Texas, Navy SEAL training, and combat experiences in Iraq. Kyle describes his role in the battle for control of Ramadi, events that led to Iraqi insurgents' nicknaming Kyle the "Devil of Ramadi" and placing a bounty on his head. He writes that after his first confirmed kill, "the others come easy. I don't have to psych myself up, or do something special mentally—I look through the scope, get my target in the cross hairs, and kill my enemy, before he kills one of my people."