Gentlemen's blood : a history of dueling from swords at dawn to pistols at dusk / Barbara Holland.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Holland, Barbara.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Dueling--History.

Dueling.

History.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

viii, 304 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Edition:

Paperback edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Bloomsbury, [2003, 2004]

Summary:

The medieval justice of trial by combat evolved into the private duel by sword and pistol, with thousands of honorable men-and not-so-honorable women-giving lives and limbs to wipe out an insult or prove a point. The duel was essential to private, public, and political life, and those who followed the elaborate codes of procedure were seldom prosecuted and rarely convicted-for, in fact, they were obeying a grand old tradition. Based on her fascinating 1997 Smithsonian article, Barbara Holland's Gentlemen's Blood is the first trade book to trace the remarkable, often gruesome, sometimes comical history of the Western tradition of defending one's honor.

Contents:

I. The Formative Years 1

II. The Idea of Honor 21

III. Starting a Fight 37

IV. Twilight of the Blade 59

V. Blazing Away 79

VI. Birth of a Nation 97

VII. Bloody Bladensburg 129

VIII. Southern Spirits 149

IX. The Written Word 173

X. Hill Country 183

XI. Moving West 203

XII. Elsewhere 223

XIII. Russian Soul 237

XIV. The German Version 259

XV. Winding Down 271.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 291-294) and index.

ISBN:

158234440X

9781582344409

OCLC:

56885430