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Author Cohen, Richard, 1947-

Title By the sword : a history of gladiators, musketeers, samurai, swashbucklers, and Olympic champions / Richard Cohen.

Publication Info. New York : Random House, [2002]
©2002

Copies

Location Call No. Status
 Avon Free Public Library - Adult Department  796.86 COHEN    Check Shelf
 Berlin-Peck Memorial Library - Non Fiction  796.86 COHEN    Check Shelf
 Bloomfield, Prosser Library - Adult Department  796.86 COH    Storage
 Bristol, Main Library - Non Fiction  796.86 C66    Check Shelf
 Cromwell-Belden Public Library - Adult Department  796.86 COH    Check Shelf
 Granby, Main Library - Adult  796.8609 COH    Check Shelf
 Manchester, Main Library - Non Fiction  796.8609 COHEN    Check Shelf
 Mansfield, Main Library - Adult Nonfiction  796.86 COHEN    Check Shelf
 Middletown, Russell Library - Adult Nonfiction  796.8609 COH    DUE 02-13-20 Billed
 New Britain, Main Library - Non Fiction  796.86 C66    Check Shelf

Edition First edition.
Description xxiv, 519 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages [483]-503) and index.
Contents How it all began -- Enter the master -- Wild kind of justice -- France in the age of the musketeers -- Great swordmakers -- Perfectthrust -- Sword is the soul -- Points of honor -- Pursuit for gentlemen -- Swashbuckling -- On Mount Rushmore -- Spilled blood -- Scars of glory -- Facist sport -- Woman who saluted Hitler -- Champions -- Exodux -- Burden of gold -- Honor betrayed -- Demon barber.
Summary Napoleon fenced. So did Shakespeare, Karl Marx, Grace Kelly, and President Truman, who would cross swords with Bess after school. Lincoln was a canny dueler. Ignatius Loyola challenged a man to a duel for denying Christ's 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 alternative history of the world. Sword fighting was an entertainment in ancient Rome, a sacred rite in medieval Japan, and throughout the ages a favorite way to settle scores. For centuries, dueling was the scourge of Europe, banned by popes on threat of excommunication, and by kings who then couldn't keep themselves from granting pardons-in the case of Louis XIV, in the thousands. Evidence of this passion is all around us: We shake hands to show that we are not reaching for our sword. A gentleman offers a lady his right arm because his sword was once attached to his left hip. Men button their jackets to the right to give them swifter access to their sword. In his sweeping narrative, Cohen takes us from the training of gladiators to the tricks of the best Renaissance masters, from the exploits of musketeers to swashbuckling Hollywood by way of the great moments in Olympic fencing. A young George Patton competed in the 1912 Olympics. In 1936, a Jewish champion fenced for Hitler. Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone were ardent swordsmen. We meet their coaches and the man who staged the fight scenes in Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, and James Bond's Die Another Day. Richard Cohen has the rare distinction of being both a compelling writer and a champion sabreur. He lets us see swordplay as graceful and brutal, balletic and deadly, technically beautiful and fiercely competitive-the most romantic of martial arts. By the Sword is a virtuoso performance that is sure to beguile history lovers, sports fans, military buffs, and anyone who ever dreamed of crossing swords with Darth Vader.
Subject Fencing -- History.
ISBN 0375504176
0812969669 paperback
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