Overview

‘A seminal book about swordplay’ Rick Broadbent, The Times   ‘The definitive study, hugely readable, of man’s most deadly art’ Simon Winchester   The classic history of sword fighting, as told by national sabre champion and Olympic fencer Richard Cohen.   The art and science of sword fighting goes back almost to the dawn of civilization and has been an obsession for much of mankind throughout recorded history. Evidence of this passion is all around us to this day: 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 swords.   From the Roman arena to feudal Japan and from the duellists of Europe to the development of modern-day Olympic fencing, Richard Cohen traces the course of swordsmanship with wit and erudition in a fascinating and wonderfully wide-ranging account. He lets us see swordplay as graceful and brutal, balletic and deadly, technical and fiercely competitive – the most romantic of martial arts. Superbly written and impeccably researched, By the Sword is a tribute to a perilous but beautiful skill, the mastery of which for centuries defined what it meant to be a man.

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9781847396709

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Reviews

‘A glorious anecdotal treasury, and a deadly serious book about life and death and sport’ * The Times * ‘A virtual encylopaedia on the subject of sword fighting’ * San Francisco Chronicle * ‘A vivid and hugely enjoyable pageant of extraordinary tales . . . irresistible’ * Economist * ‘Touché! While scrupulous and informed about its subject, Richard Cohen’s book is about more than swordplay. It reads at times like an alternative social history of the West’  * Sebastian Faulks * ‘Like swordplay itself, By the Sword is elegant, accurate, romantic, and full of brio’  -- Simon Winchester ‘In this enormously learned but also gripping book, Richard Cohen describes the part sword fighting has played in the history of male society in many lands since the earliest times, and succeeds in conveying the sensations, excitement, and sometimes terror of the contest. His text takes its authority from his achievement as an Olympic fencer’  -- John Keegan ‘Sensibly, since all the best books make us fall a little in love with their authors, Cohen unapologetically follows his inclination . . . I found the chapter on samurai the most fascinating, a revelation of what can at best lie behind the skill and discipline of any single-handed combat: an exquisite involvement of brain, brawn, spirit and soul . . .’  * Independent * ‘Cohen’s love of the sport seeps through [this book] . . . This is evidently the book of his life’  * New York Times * ‘Richard Cohen writes of fencing that ‘of all sports arguably the most romantic, it also most closely simulates the act of armed manslaughter.’ . . . Fencers and other sword fanciers will be engrossed by the details of By the Sword. Others will discover in it a more ambiguous picture of life, in which death and the ways to inflict it become entwined with personal honour, technological improvements and yes, elegance and beauty. Much as Patrick O’Brian, in his novels about the royal navy in the Napoleonic Wars, revived the seafaring past of the English tongue, Cohen reminds us that it is easy to find vestiges of swordsmanship in modern society . . .’ * Los Angeles Times * ‘Few have been so perfectly positioned to write such a book . . . By the Sword succeeds in rendering that most iconic of weapons both mythic and accessible . . . It is to Cohen’s credit that without diminishing its mystique, he leaves one with the sense that the sword is an integral artefact for understanding everyday life’ * New York Times Book Review * ‘Cohen’s exuberant history of swordplay begins with an account of his own 1972 “duel” in London, then leaps into the story of civilization as measured through the evolving technology and customs around broadswords, armour, lances, foils, sabres, rapiers, and épées. Readers wanting only to escape into chivalric tales from Musketeer days will not be disappointed; however, the polished writing and masterly use of centuries of anecdote should lure them through equally vivid sections on Roman gladiators, medieval knights, Japanese Samurai, and the swashbuckling crazes in Italy, Spain, France, England, and Hollywood . . . A work so rich in social history . . . highly recommended’ * Library Journal * ‘Richard Cohen’s By the Sword is so dense with intriguing facts, it’s sometimes hard to pause for the pictures. But on page [173], there is a stunner . . . This isn’t only a title for enthusiasts . . . Romance, culture and the lethal merge in By the Sword, providing an understanding of a sport that was once a means of defence’ * New York Daily News * ‘Cohen’s enthusiastic history of the sword and of swordplay captures the adventure, romance, danger and intrigue that the weapon has represented throughout world history. The narrative contains superheroes, villains, underdogs, spies, alchemists, movie stars and champions . . . Barely a subject escapes his eyes . . . There are copious playful asides as footnotes filling the reader in on wonderful facts and anecdotes. For those with even a casual interest in fencing, Cohen’s work will be a delightful read; he brings the daunting breadth of the history of the sword within easy reach of the curious’ * Publishers Weekly * ‘The author, a four-time Olympic fencer (and former publishing director for an eminent British house), packs this history of sword fighting with so much detail that even the most drastically uninformed reader will come away with a deep appreciation for the sport that started as a way of life . . . Cohen traces this evolution gracefully, anchoring the story of history, offering up plenty of social and political context, and introducing us to the most notable swordsmen. A definitive history’ * Booklist * ‘. . . a fascinating, often blood-soaked history that globetrots through nearly three thousand years of the art, science, and practice of swordplay . . . Cohen covers every conceivable topic on swordsmanship – from the actual forging of the weapons and how the process has changed to the literature of fencing; from fencing in literature (Doyle, Chekhov, Dostoevsky, Rostand, and Dumas) to swordplay in films . . . He relates these tales through revealing vignettes that center on personalities, and not surprisingly such a history contains plenty of vibrant characters . . . For all the richness, outstanding range of research, and impeccable writing, it’s Cohen’s digressions and anecdotes that continually amaze and amuse . . . In this splendid, lively history, Cohen mixes dexterity with intelligence, flair with focus, and respect with charm – the perfect tools for play with either sword or word’ * Christian Science Monitor * ‘. . . a fascinating, often blood-soaked history that globetrots through nearly three thousand years of the art, science, and practice of swordplay . . . Cohen covers every conceivable topic on swordsmanship – from the actual forging of the weapons and how the process has changed to the literature of fencing; from fencing in literature (Doyle, Chekhov, Dostoevsky, Rostand, and Dumas) to swordplay in films . . . He relates these tales through revealing vignettes that center on personalities, and not surprisingly such a history contains plenty of vibrant characters . . . For all the richness, outstanding range of research, and impeccable writing, it’s Cohen’s digressions and anecdotes that continually amaze and amuse . . . In this splendid, lively history, Cohen mixes dexterity with intelligence, flair with focus, and respect with charm – the perfect tools for play with either sword or word’ * Christian Science Monitor * ‘Every now and then, we get a book here . . . that just makes us drop everything and dive right in . . . By the Sword . . . had us swinging from the fluorescent light fixtures’ * National Public Radio’s Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me * 'Carefully researched and written with sense and wit, this history is more than just about the weapon whose use for centuries helped define what it was to be a proper man, it also comes close to being an account of gentlemanly manners all over the world. The author himself was a national sabre champion; it's not often you come across a man equally at home with both sword and pen' * Sunday Telegraph * ‘Richard Cohen’s endlessly engrossing history of the sword and those who wielded it takes us from the Minoans to the modern day with utmost erudition and authority, laced with apposite and often startling anecdotes and asides – while it somehow comes as no surprise that fascist such as Benito Mussolini and Oswald Mosley were keen fencers…Cohen is equally eye-opening about the dark arts of match-rigging and cheating in competition, and he should know, as a five-time UK sabre champion who also competed in four Olympics. His pen is equally as mighty as his sword’  * Independent on Sunday *

Author Information

Richard Cohen is the former publishing director of Hutchinson and Hodder & Stoughton and the author of Chasing the Sun, By the Sword, and How To Write Like Tolstoy. Works he has edited have gone on to win the Pulitzer, Booker and Whitbread/Costa prizes, and twenty-one have been #1 bestsellers. For more than 35 years he has written, edited, and lectured on numerous subjects around the world, from talks on the Queen Mary 2 to the First World War battlefields of France and Belgium. For seven years he was a visiting professor in creative writing at the university of Kingston-upon-Thames in London. Among the authors he has edited are Madeleine Albright, Vanessa Redgrave, Sebastian Faulks, Studs Terkel, John Keegan, Richard Holmes, John le Carre, Jeffrey Archer, Sir Harold Evans, Tony Benn, Barbara Castle, William Trevor, Kingsley Amis and Fay Weldon. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.   For two years he was program director of the Cheltenham Festival of Literature, and during his tenure it became the largest book festival in the world. Five times U.K. national saber champion, Cohen was selected for the British Olympic fencing team in 1972, 1976, 1980, and 1984 and has been four times world veteran champion.  He has written for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times Book Review and most British quality newspapers.

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