A History of the American Light Tank. Vol.2: Sheridan

Dick Hunnicutt's first volume, "A History of the American Light Tank", documents the development of light armored vehicles from their early beginning in World War I to the end of the Second World War. This volume 2 traces not only the development of the light tank, but also its transition from a lightly armored vehicle supporting infantry to its current in extremis role for the Army's early entry forces.
The centerpiece of volume 2 is the M551, General Sheridan, armored reconnaissance/airborne assault vehicle (AR/AAV). The Sheridan was a revolutionary vehicle; a tank that could swim, fire missile and caseless conventional ammunition from the same stabilized gun-launcher system, and be delivered to the combat area by parachute. All of these capabilities had to be developed and integrated into a vehicle weighing roughly sixteen tons. The Sheridan was the most complex armored vehicle ever developed by the Army at that time. It was to be the most controversial vehicle ever developed.
Mr. Hunnicutt does an outstanding job documenting the difficulties encountered in the development and fielding of the Sheridan. He also accurately records the divergent opinions held by the two main users of the vehicle, the cavalryman and the paratrooper.