The timeline starts early prehistory; book explores sling, javelin, arrow, crossbow, the appearance of crude fire arms, smooth bore muzzle loaders, introduction of rifling, minnie ball, telescopic sights.  The story follows the technological advances, which improved performance, which eventually lead to changes in tactics. About 2/3 of the book covers the time period American Civil War to the present.  Lots of anecdotes.

     I enjoyed this book very much, enough history to get a perspective, enough technology to see what and how things changed.  Trained snipers could be effective at some quite impressive ranges at the time of the Civil War and some truly phenomenal ranges currently.