To Ride, Shoot Straight & Speak the Truth [Hardcover]

Jeff Cooper (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 367 pages
• Publisher: Paladin Pr; 1St Edition edition (October 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0962134201
• ISBN-13: 978-0962134203
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #823,978 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jeff Cooper was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1920. He was educated at Stanford University and took his advanced degree from the University of California. He was commissioned in the Marine Corps in 1941 and served throughout World War II in the Pacific, achieving the rank of Major. Recalled to active duty for the Korean War, he moved up one rank to Lieutenant Colonel before leaving the service.

Cooper became a shottist at the age of eleven. In 1958 he originated the sport of practical pistol competition. From this activity he formulated the Modern Technique of the Pistol, now generally observed throughout the world. For the next thirty years he was active in teaching the new method throughout the Western World.

In 1976 Jeff Cooper founded the International Practical Shooting Confederation. In 1977 he founded the American Pistol Institute at Gunsite in Arizona, where he lived until his death in 2006.

He served as editor-at-large of Guns and Ammo magazine, for which he wrote a monthly column. After having served many years as a director of the National Rifle Association of America, he was elected to the Executive Council.

Jeff Cooper spent a long and active life reading, shooting, hunting, fighting and teaching. Internationally respected as the "Gunner's Guru," Jeff Cooper is a philosopher, moralist, and political commentator -- a true modern Renaissance man. It is to the benefit of his many readers that he developed the passion at an early age to write it all down.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Colonel Cooper's best work to date!, August 27, 1997

By 

Rick "Big Paw Bullets" (Dayton, Ohio, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: To Ride, Shoot Straight & Speak the Truth (Hardcover)

Colonel (RET) Jeff Cooper is a controversial figure within the shooting community. His opinions both politically and in technical areas focusing on the deployment of personal weapons, in particular firearms, are subjects for argument among `experts' as well as laymen. This is, in my opinion, his best work to date. Subjects range from practical pistol and rifle craft to current (1988) perceived political and cultural problems with some proposed controversial solutions. Colonel Cooper relies heavily on his personal experiences in combat and as a weapons instructor. His descriptions of hunting world-wide with emphasis on his African adventures are well worth the price of this book. His experiences during World War Two and more recently as a guest of the U.S. Army provide insight into the historical `Warrior' mentality of which Colonel Cooper is a living example. If you like books about Teddy (Theodore Roosevelt), or such titles as `Death In The Long Grass' by Peter Hathaway Capstic you will enjoy this work

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars By "The" Jeff Cooper, founder of the American Pistol Inst., January 31, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: To Ride, Shoot Straight & Speak the Truth (Hardcover)

Jeff Cooper is known worldwide among shooters as the "Father of the Modern Technique of the Handgun". His contributions to the science of the defensive use of the handgun are legend. Founder of the original GunSite - American Pistol Institute. Trainer of Law enforcement trainers. A director of the NRA. This classic work includes the musings and philosophy of a man many call the "Guru".

- Tom Scot

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jeff Cooper's Classic, January 12, 2007

By 

S. H. Towsley (Fort Wayne, IN & Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: To Ride, Shoot Straight & Speak the Truth (Hardcover)

There isn't really anything controversial about the unsurpassed, lifelong expertise of Col. Jeff Cooper. Those who would like to pretend Cooper is controversial wish their own theories and arguments could hold a candle to Cooper's decades of learning and wisdom -- and his training of countless American shooters at his own Gunsite training facility.

Armchair hobbyists may occasionally chafe at Cooper's half century of military and civilian experience but as they say, you have to crawl before you can walk. There are no shortcuts in matters of offensive and defensive lethal weapons.

Lately deceased, Jeff Cooper was among the nation's masters of the art of the firearm -- and honorable ways of living which accompany its employment. This book is Cooper's signature classic on his subject.

If Col. Jeff Cooper is not a leading American authority on virtually all matters pertaining to firearms -- there aren't any.