Gentlemen's Blood

For history buffs, fencing enthusiasts, or just your average reader who enjoys an entertaining and intelligent book, there's Gentlemen's Blood: A History of Dueling, From Swords at Dawn to Pistols at Dusk by Barbara Holland (Bloomsbury, 2003).

Great fun, interesting information, and excellent writing.

Included are letters written back and forth between duelists, leading up to the actual encounters on the field of honor; codes--actual laws--written to govern proper dueling; and examples from history and even from the modern age i.e. the September 2002 duel between the Peruvian vice president and a Peruvian congressman, pistols on a beach south of Lima.

I'm just beginning the fourth chapter, and enjoying every word.