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For other authors named Richard Cohen, see the disambiguation page.

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OK, I have no hopes or aspirations to write like Tolstoy, but taking a journey into the minds of our greatest writers; count me in. Richard Cohen provides the reader with so many fascinating examples of what makes our most famous writers tick you're bound to come across something, about one of your favorite writers, that you weren't aware of. And will say to yourself, "Awesome", I know I did.
 
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kevinkevbo | 2 other reviews | Jul 14, 2023 |
Lives of Western historians (here and there, mention of others, mostly in China), with occasional context. Perhaps oddly or perhaps not, Cohen spends far more time on America’s post-Civil War context before writing about American historians of race & the Civil War than he does explaining the world of Thucydides.
½
 
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rivkat | Mar 16, 2023 |
Cohen says, in Chasing the Sun's introduction, that he was inspired to write the book after realizing there is not a comprehensive history of the star that gives our planet life. His goal, then, was to create both an exhaustively researched cultural history of the sun's importance to humanity -- in spiritual and scientific terms -- and a granular exploration of the sun's importance scientifically, from the way it helps create life and how it can also harm us.

The result is an interesting, albeit bloated, book. Chasing the Sun is engrossing for the first 250-300 pages. This is clearly a labor of love for Cohen, who spends hundreds of pages discussing everything from the ancient Babylonians and Egyptians, and their associated Sun Gods, and the explosion of astronomical science, from Newton to Einstein, that led us to important and world-altering perspective shifts.

But the book's dual goal also hinders it. While I loved reading about humanity's cultural fascination with the Sun, I was less interested in reading extensive passages about skin cancer, the food chain, and ocean flora. As such, the back end of the book reads like a dry science textbook - even when touching on subjects I'm interested in.

All in all, I appreciate what Cohen attempted here. While it often feels like a mixed bag, there is so much here to learn that I can't help but get giddy at the thought of it. As someone who's always dabbled with astronomy and found the universe exciting, it's hard not to love a book that is so dedicated and focused on our central star.
… (more)
½
 
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keithlaf | 8 other reviews | Jul 5, 2022 |
Napoleon fenced. So did Shakespeare, Karl Marx, Grace Kelly, and President Truman, who would cross swords with Bess after school. Lincoln was a canny dueler. Ignatius Loyola challenged a man to a duel for denying Christ's divinity (and won). Less successfull, but no less enthusiastic, was Mussolini, who would tell his wife he was 'off to get spaghetti,' their code to avoid alarming the children.

By the Sword is an epic history of sword fighting-a science, an art and, for many, a religion that began at the dawn of civilization in ancient Egypt and has been an obsession for mankind ever since. wlilth wit and insight, Richard Cohen gives us an engrossing alternative history of the world.

Sword fighting was an entertainment in ancient Rome, a sacred rite in mediaval Japan, and throughout the ages a favorite way to settle scores. For centuries, dueling was the scourge of Europe, banned by popes on threat of excommunication, and by kings who then couldn't keep themselves from granting pardons-in the case of Louis XIV, in the thousands. Evidence of this passion is all around us: 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 sword.

In his sweeping narrative, Cohen takes us from the training of gladiators to the tricks of the best Renaissance masters, from the exploits of musketeers to swashbuckling Hollywood by way of the great moments in Olympic fencing. A young George Patton competed in the 1912 Olympics. In 1936, a Jewish champion fenced for Hitler. Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone were ardent swordsmen. We meet their coaches and the man who staged the fight scenes in Star Wars, the Lord of the Rings, and James Bond's Die Another Day.

Richard Cohen has the rare distinction of being both a compeling writer and a champon sabreur. He lets us see swordplay as graceful and brutal, balletic and deadly, technically beautiful and fiercely competitive-the most romantic of martial arts. By the Sword is a virtuoso performance that is sure to beguile history lovers, sports fans, military buffs, and anyone who ever dreamed of crossing with Darth Vader.

Richard Cohen is the former publishing director of Hutchinson and Hodder & Stoughton and the founder of Richard Cohen Books. Five times U.K. national saber champion, he was selected for the British Olympic team in 1972, 1976, 1980, and 1984. He has written for The New York Times and most leading London neewspapers, and has appeared on BBC radio and telelvision. He lives in New York City.

'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

'Touche! 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, as it deals with the big themes of chivalry, the need to compete, and that elusive quality tha men call 'honor.''-Sebastian Faulks

'One must not hiccup while sword-swallowing: Indian elephants, alone in the animal kingdom, can be taught to fight with foils-just two apercus from Cohen's quite wonderful book. Like swordplay itself, By the Sword is elgant, accurate, romantic, and full of brio-the definitve study, hugely readable, of man's most deadly art.'-Simon Winchester

Contents

List of illustrations
Prologue
Part 1: From Egypt to Waterloo
Chapter 1 How it all began
Chapter 2 Enter the master
Chapter 3 A wild kind of justice
Chapter 4: France in the age of the musketeers
Part 2: The search for perfection
Chapter 5 The great swordsmakers
Chapter 6 The perfect thrust
Chapter 7 Where the sword is the soul
Part 3: The duel's high noon
Chapter 8 Points of honor
Chapter 9 A pursuit for gentlemen
Chapter 10 Swashbuckling
Chapter 11 On Mount Rushmore
Part 4: Wounded warriors
Chapter 12 Spilled blood
Chapter 13 Scars of glory
Part 5: Great powers
Chapter 14 The fascist sport
Chapter 15 The woman who saluted Hitler
Chapter 16 The champions
Chapter 17 Exodus
Part 6: Faustian pacts
Chapter 18 The burden of gold
Chapter 19 Honor betrayed
Chapter 20 The demon parber
Epilogue: By way of the sword
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index
… (more)
 
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AikiBib | 9 other reviews | May 29, 2022 |

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Works
5
Members
1,200
Popularity
#21,382
Rating
½ 3.7
Reviews
23
ISBNs
91
Languages
5

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