I had the .45 Compact, but sold it quickly because recoil was disappointingly stout despite its weight, due in part to the awkward squared off angles around the grip tang where the web of my hand contacted it. A 9mm of course would be more comfortable in recoil.
I remember reliability being OK, but aside from the recoil it generally left me with the impression of being bulky and clunky compared to the competition. I don’t miss it at all, really hadn’t even thought about it in a couple of years, until I saw your question.
There was a professional gun writer posting on this site, Dennis Prisbey ( unfortunately passed away this year?) who liked the American and wrote that it represented an advance over the older SR series. You might search for his posts (Dpris was his posting name ) to see his comments.
I also owned two SRs, a .40 Compact and a .45, but sold off both because of insufficient reliability. I like the looks and the feel of the slimmer SR9 and have toyed with getting one despite my experience. I recall Prisbey being of the impression that the American was a more robust, heavy duty design than the SR, which it seemed he didn’t think was fully developed. Alot of posters on here are happy with their SR9s, including the Compacts which would be better for carry but also have a light rail and take bigger mags for an HD role.