Gentlemen's Blood: A Thousand Years of Sword and Pistol [Hardcover]

Barbara Holland (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 8, 2003

Barbara Holland guides us lightheartedly through the touchy subject of honor-and how to defend it-in this compulsively readable history of dueling's first thousand years.

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. Here are their stories, from Dumas's Three Musketeers to America's founding fathers, including the New Orleans doctors who settled their medical disagreements under The Oaks, the short-lived newspaper editors of America's South and West, and certain twenty-first-century Parisian politicians.

The duel was essential to private, public, and political life. Where it was technically illegal, those who followed the elaborate codes of procedure were seldom prosecuted and rarely convicted: they were obeying a grand old tradition. Gentlemen's Blood is the definitive guide to this courtly violence, from an author called "a witty curmudgeon" by George Will and "a national treasure" by the Philadelphia Inquirer, whose style, according to Kirkus Reviews, "fits somewhere between E.B. White and Andy Rooney."

A Smithsonian Magazine Selection.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In dueling, the author of Hail to the Chiefs finds a surprisingly sturdy axis around which to connect historical figures and incidents as spokes. Holland wheels it all engagingly from the birth of jousting in the 12th century to October 2002 and Iraq's suggestion of a fight among national leaders rather than a war with the U.S. Her arguments about duels surviving in professional sports and business ventures are persuasive, but her anecdotes and digressions carry the narrative. Besides accounts of such famed duel winners as Jim Bowie-or losers, like Alexander Hamilton-she describes astronomer Tycho Brahe getting his nose sliced off, artist Caravaggio slaying a victorious tennis opponent and writer Alexander Pushkin canceling a gunfight in progress because of a snowstorm. Holland also uncovers unknowns with equally remarkable stories, the funniest of which depicts a battle between a man and a dog that "suspected" him of killing its master. Alas, Holland focuses more on the sport of dueling than its messy results. Although she claims duels left a third of their participants dead or seriously injured and that they were "hard on the widows and orphans," she fails to explore the bloody consequences in detail. And while some of her wistful ideas about gentlemen no longer being manly have merit, others, like honor being as antiquated as throwing "virgins down volcanoes," are overwrought. Perhaps the definitive work on dueling remains to be written, but until it arrives, this makes for a fun, fitfully enlightening ride.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Any Neanderthal can avenge an affront, but killing with style requires a true gentleman, steeped in manners, skilled at arms, and valiant in honor's defense. But as Holland reveals in her jocose journey through the dormant custom of dueling, gentlemen would duel at the drop of a hat. Vegetable seeds were at the nub of a duel Sam Houston fought, a typically disproportionate playing out of cause and effect. This aroma of the ridiculous wafts through Holland's cheeky essay. She also makes sport of another aspect of the fine art of running a sword through a man--the way Americans took to aping their Old Country betters, debasing the noble duel with blunderbusses and bowie knives. Maybe the duel fell away because it couldn't coexist with democracy, but it bequeathed stories and victims aplenty for this humorous history of dueling. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA; 1ST edition (September 8, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582343667
• ISBN-13: 978-1582343662
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,960,125 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fire When Ready!, January 15, 2004

By 

Rick Beyer "Rick Beyer" (Lexington, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gentlemen's Blood: A Thousand Years of Sword and Pistol (Hardcover)

There's a lot to like about this enjoyable, lighthearted romp through centuries of dueling. It was a revelation to me that dueling was such an integral part of (male) western society over the last 500 years. You will shake your head at the absurdity, tragedy, and occasional glimmers of commonsense that permeate personal combat over the centuries. Barbara Holland's style is breezy and ironic. Some great moments-duelists battling it out in balloons-and interesting close encounters with dueling by such figures as Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain, Occasionally style trumps content, and there are a few passages that show signs of hastiness or sloppiness, but this is a minor defect.

PS: Teen and preteen boys will love it!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a pretty good read, December 13, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Gentlemen's Blood: A Thousand Years of Sword and Pistol (Hardcover)

I find myself wondering if were dueling still legal whether someone would challenge the author for casting aspersions on the practice.

All jokes aside, "Gentlemen's Blood" is a witty and engaging look at a social custom that seems incomprehensible in the late 21st century. Reading it, I could only think of how many stupid things are done in the name of honor and manhood.

I disagree with the negative comments about this book. I don't think the author is a "hack," and I don't think that she spares the readers descriptions about how unpleasant it is to get stabbed or shot. Pushkin's death from being gut shot in his last duel is a particularly vivid image that she describes.

I also think that people should not read it expecting a deep discussion about swordplay and gunslinging. The book is meant to be amusing and informative, and it certainly is.

The only criticism that I have against "Gentlemen's Blood" is that the author's thesis that modern day warfare is just dueling writ large is idiotic. In the past, some wars --particularly those of absolute rulers-- had features of duels, however, I would submit that an event like World War II or Vietnam is nothing like a duel.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More of Holland's inimitable wit!, September 18, 2003

By 

Emily S. (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gentlemen's Blood: A Thousand Years of Sword and Pistol (Hardcover)

Barbara Holland has a winning way of bringing historical figures vividly to life. For instance, our illustrious presidents are all too human in "Hail to the Chiefs," her delightful romp through American history (updated to include George W. and reissued by The Permanent Press, 2003). In Holland's "Brief Heroes and Histories"--many gathered from biographical sketches previously published in "Smithsonian" magazine--figures from Cleopatra to Elvis to Marx are re-examined with a fresh and funny perspective (Akadine Press, 1998). "They Went Whistling" (Random House, 2001) is closer in structure to "Gentlemen's Blood," in that the most interesting people and stories have been carefully sifted by Holland and served up with flair for our amused edification--in "Whistling," women who flout the conventions of their times and have Adventures, and in "Gentlemen's Blood," duels and those who fight them. I highly recommend Holland's latest work. Aficionados of guns and such equipment may be disappointed, as this is a history of duels, not an encyclopedia of weaponry. And anyone whose research methods and subsequent writing can withstand the scrutiny of the "Smithsonian" editorial board is no slouch. Enjoy the book!