Download Pistols at Dawn: A History of Duelling fb2, epub

by Richard Hopton

ISBN: 0749951028
Author: Richard Hopton
Language: English
Publisher: Piatkus Books (January 25, 2007)
Pages: 320
Category: Social Sciences
Subcategory: Politics
Rating: 4.4
Votes: 660
Size Fb2: 1699 kb
Size ePub: 1234 kb
Size Djvu: 1187 kb
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Richard Hopton Social Sciences English

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Duelling is embedded in our collective consciousness, through numerous films and books.

Duelling is embedded in our collective consciousness, through numerous films and books. Publisher: Piatkus Books. Pages: 320, 390. ISBN 10: 0749951028.

Author:Richard Hopton. Pistols at Dawn: A History of Duelling. Book Binding:Paperback. Can't find what you're looking for?. Publisher:Little, Brown Book Group. Each month we recycle over . million books, saving over 12,500 tonnes of books a year from going straight into landfill sites. Read full description. See details and exclusions. Pistols At Dawn: A history of duelling by Richard Hopton (Paperback, 2011). Pre-owned: lowest price.

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by Richard Hopton Read Excerpt. A fluent and entertaining history of the practice of duelling. The times literary supplement.

After the gross and unjustifiable insults you have offered me both as a soldier and a gentleman, I conclude you must be prepared to give me that satisfaction I am entitled to. I am therefore to request that you will name a place and hour of meeting. So runs a typical challenge to a duel from the early 19th century; formal, polite – and potentially fatal.

Pistols at Dawn contains countless examples of duels fought between the 16th and 19th centuries, which . Not in the slightest. To illustrate duelling's long and chequered history, Richard Hopton has chosen his duels well.

Pistols at Dawn contains countless examples of duels fought between the 16th and 19th centuries, which, after the first half-dozen or so, you might expect to start wearing thin. Some were fought over matters of great import, such as Whig leader George Tierney's challenge to William Pitt, after the prime minister accused him of a lack of patriotism; while at the other extreme, in 1721, two Irishmen fought over the correct spelling of a Greek word.

at Dawn: A History of Duelling.

Pistols at Dawn: A History of Duelling. Young Wisden: A New Fan's Guide to Cricket.

Honour has always been at the heart of duelling The image of pistols at dawn does not fit with our idea of Victorians as the first Britons to exchange romantic ideas of personal honour for the practical.

Honour has always been at the heart of duelling. What separated a fatal fight with swords or pistols from a common murderous assault was its potential to restore wounded honour. Centuries before Romilly and Smythe’s encounter, medieval lawmakers had added verbal insults to existing codes proscribing physical assault and murder.

Hopton, Richard (2007). a b Holmes, Richard (2008). Marlborough: England's Fragile Genius. Field, Ophelia (2008). The Kit-Cat Club: Friends who Imagined a Nation.

Duelling is embedded in our collective consciousness, through numerous films and books. This book traces the history of the duel from its medieval antecedents in trial by combat and chivalric tournaments. Using numerous accounts of actual duels, it shows how the arcane rules of the duel evolved.

Comments:

Thetalune

This book on "the art of the duel" concentrates on dueling with pistols (as opposed to other weapons) primarily in Britain, Ireland, and America, though other countries are also mentioned. It's a nuts-and-bolts sort of book, explaining the customary rules of dueling, giving brief descriptions of many famous duels, and going into some technical detail about the weapons used. The author doesn't go in much for academic analysis of the duel as a social or psychological phenomenon. Included are a sheaf of interesting and illuminating illustrations.

I don't have the expertise to judge the book as a work of history, but as a general reader whose knowledge of dueling is limited to examples I've seen in films and historical novels, I found the work of great interest. If you are looking for a basic, thorough description of dueling as a historical phenomenon in the US and Britain, mostly in the period from the late 17th to the late 19th century, I think this book will satisfy you.

Zuser

While other surveys on the history of duelling might be difficult to find (or far too expensive), Richard Hopton came with a very well researched and well written survey - a really good introduction into the subject. It covers the matter chronologically - from it's blossoming under Louis XIV in France to the XX century, geographically - from England to Russia, and, finally, describes various weapons of choice.
The book has many quality illustrations.
I was very pleased with the book, and even got few spare copies as gifts for arms collectors - and they are very impressed and pleased also.

I would like to make just few remarks: perhaps the gunsmiths of the famous flintlocks of choice, those "death merchants" (Mantons, Wogden, Egg, Mortimer, Boutet, Le Page etc) deserve a separate chapter. I would suggest to add more illustration of flintlock duelers (there is only one photo with 2 pairs, one has nothing to do with duelers); although quality cased flintlocks are not easy to get these days, the photos are easily obtainable.

The weakest part of the book is dedicated to duels in Russia - these particular subject is well documented from the days of Peter the Great (when the duels became very trendy) until the time of Nicholas I (when the duellists were sent to Caucasus as privates) and Nicholas II - also easily available to anyone with rudimental knowledge of Russian.

In any case the book is good.

Anayalore

Many of the more interesting parts of history are typically not taught in school. This book covers one of them. The book covers the rules used in different places and the reasons for them. Then the situation in each different place and time period is covered. The details put the reader in the historical situation, so that one is able to understand why people would fight silly duels and how it was required by society.

The writing tells the story of each situation and is easy for the lay person to understand. However the research into the book has been exacting and carefully footnoted.

Bort

I have not finished it, but I am really enjoying this book. It is well organized and Mr. Hopton writes very well. Personally, I wish there was more information about duelling in France during the Age of the Musketeers (as the author calls one chapter), but that is because I have a strong interest in that subject given some research and writing I'm doing. Although I suspect that a few readers may well feel the same way, because Alexander Dumas's books probably helped fuel interest in the subject for quite a few people. Perhaps the author could add more in this area in a later edition, and possibly even as a tangent provide an analysis of the duels fought by the Musketeers in Dumas's fiction and whether the details there conform to reality (which could be an appendix to that chapter so that it does not detract from the factual flow of the book overall)?