Duel

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"In 1826 a merchant called David Landale shot his bank manager dead in a duel. Two centuries later, one of his descendents, James Landale, explains why two rational, educated men might choose to resolve a dispute by shooting at one another. Using newly discovered archives, Duel reconstructs in detail both the encounter and the circumstances surrounding it." "Landale also tells the story of duelling itself, explaining where this extraordinary phenomenon came from, and why, in the middle of the nineteenth century, it suddenly lost its social legitimacy."--BOOK JACKET.