The History of Duelling. Vol. 1 (of 2)

Millingen opens his exhaustive study with a provocation that still resonates: we pride ourselves on intellectual perfection, yet duelling persists, a relic of barbarism dressed in the language of honor. What follows is a meticulously researched journey through centuries of single combat, from ancient trial by ordeal to the author's own era, tracing how societies have alternately celebrated and condemned men settling disputes with steel. The author dissects the hypocrisy of civilizations that simultaneously proclaimed enlightenment and sanctioned ritualized murder. Through vivid accounts of famous duels and the social conditions that produced them, Millingen reveals duelling not as mere historical curiosity but as a window into how power, class, and masculine identity have always intertwined. Volume One establishes his central argument: that duelling is a mirror held up to society's deepest contradictions, and that studying its evolution tells us as much about the present as the past. For readers who suspect that civilization is thinner than we'd like to believe, this unflinching historical account offers dark, absorbing proof.