By the Sword: A History of Gladiators, Musketeers, Samurai, Swashbucklers, and Olympic Champions; 10th anniversary edition (Modern Library Paperbacks)

ISBN: 0812969669

Author: Cohen, Richard

Condition: New

Like swordplay itself, By the Sword is elegant, accurate, romantic, and full of brio-the definitive study, hugely readable, of mans most deadly art.-Simon WinchesterWith a new Preface by the authorNapoleon fenced. So did Shakespeare, Karl Marx, Grace Kelly, and President Truman, who as a schoolboy would practice fencing with Bess-his future wife- when the two of them returned home from school. Lincoln was a canny dueler. Ignatius Loyola challenged a man to a duel for denying Christs divinity (and won). Less successful, but no less enthusiastic, was Mussolini, who would tell his wife he was off to get spaghetti, their code to avoid alarming the children. By the Sword is an epic history of sword fighting-a science, an art, and, for many, a religion that began at the dawn of civilization in ancient Egypt and has been an obsession for mankind ever since. With wit and insight, Richard Cohen gives us an engrossing history of the world via the sword.Praise for By the SwordTouché! While scrupulous and informed about its subject, Richard Cohens book is about more than swordplay. It reads at times like an alternative social history of the West.-Sebastian FaulksIn writing By the Sword, [Cohen] has shown that he is as skilled with the pen as he is with the sword.-The New York TimesIrresistible . . . extraordinary . . . vivid and hugely enjoyable.-The EconomistA virtual encyclopedia on the subject of sword fighting.-San Francisco ChronicleLiterate, learned, and, beg pardon, razor-sharp . . . a pleasure for practitioners, and a rewarding entertainment for the armchair swashbuckler.-Kirkus Reviews (starred review)