Paul Kirchner, author of The Deadliest Men and Jim Cirillo's Tales of the Stakeout Squad", has researched memoirs, trial transcripts and period newspapers to uncover a wealth of first-person and eyewitness accounts of deadly duels, going back more than 400 years. Dueling with the Sword and Pistol describes more than 60 life-or-death encounters; many have never been reprinted, and some appear in English for the first time.

This wide-ranging study also examines bowie knife duels, horseback duels and the German Mensur, as well as profiling such notorious duelists as "Fighting" Fitzgerald, Aaron Burr, Lord Byron, Alexander Pushkin, Sam Houston and Benito Mussolini. Kirchner also discusses honor and insult, bretteurs and fire-eaters, dueling weapons and techniques, dueling codes, multiparty duels and duels to first blood, as well as such oddities as secret thrusts, duels between women, suicide duels and duels with one loaded pistol. Numerous prints and pen-and-ink drawings give added life to the accounts.

This meticulously researched and highly entertaining book is for martial artists, fencers, historians and enthusiasts of edged weapons and firearms, as well as anyone who enjoys blow-by-blow accounts of mortal combat.