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Choose Your Weapon : The Duel in California, 1847-1861 by Christopher Burchfield (2016, Trade Paperback)
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About this product
Product Identifiers
PublisherLinden Publishing Company, Incorporated
ISBN-101610352777
ISBN-139781610352772
eBay Product ID (ePID)219434940
Product Key Features
Book TitleChoose Your Weapon : the Duel in California, 1847-1861
Number of Pages260 Pages
LanguageEnglish
TopicEditors, Journalists, Publishers, United States / State & Local / West (Ak, CA, Co, Hi, Id, Mt, Nv, Ut, WY), United States / 19th Century, Martial Arts & Self-Defense, United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877), General, Political, Customs & Traditions, American Government / State
Publication Year2016
IllustratorYes
GenrePolitical Science, Sports & Recreation, Social Science, Biography & Autobiography, History
AuthorChristopher Burchfield
FormatTrade Paperback
Dimensions
Item Weight12.3 Oz
Item Length9 in
Item Width6 in
Additional Product Features
Intended AudienceTrade
LCCN2016-036447
Reviews" Choose Your Weapon: The Duel in California brings to life an era in which conflicts in early California were settled by duels, and documents every major duel that occurred in the state. As chapters follow the beginnings and evolution of the duel in this state, using historical archives and newspaper accounts, historian Christopher Burchfield defines and provides a powerful saga of the duel's place in not just settling disputes, but acting as a legitimate legal process and forum for decision making. Anyone interested in California's early history and the specter of the duel will find this book absorbing and intriguing, bringing together many disparate pieces of information." -- California Bookwatch, "Christopher Burchfield defines and provides a powerful saga of the duel's place in not just settling disputes, but acting as a legitimate legal process and forum for decision making. Anyone interested in California's early history and the specter of the duel will find this book absorbing and intriguing, bringing together many disparate pieces of information." -- California Bookwatch, "Careful detailing of the political realities and interactions of the period ... I will treasure this on my research shelf." --David Lloyd Sutton, San Francisco Book Review, "Not the least valuable of this book's contributions to a reader's learning is the careful detailing of the political realities and interactions of the period. While the language is objective and sometimes sympathetic or amused, its descriptions of bribery, unscrupulous maneuvers, entrapment, and even unbridled rage are put forward clearly. Illustrations range from early and surprisingly crisp photography to portraiture-fine windows into an era so recently influential to our modern culture and yet so alien. Aiding this perspective is the writer's attempt to follow duelists (those who survived) in their later escapades. Unsurprisingly, many of those found violent or alcoholic ends. I will treasure this on my research shelf." --David Lloyd Sutton, San Francisco Book Review, "Burchfield draws upon his exhaustively detailed personal research to create a seminal and unique work of historical scholarship that is truly extraordinary. Informed and informative, Choose Your Weapon is unreservedly recommended." --Able Greenspan, MBR Bookwatch
Table Of ContentI - GOLDEN ERA CALIFORNIAII - IN THE BEGINNINGIII - THE DUEL IN AMERICAIV - THE DUEL COMES TO CALIFORNIAV - THE YEAR 1850VI - THE KEYSTONE FIRE-EATERVII - THE DUEL AT COYOTE HILLVIII - MURDER AT INDUSTRY BARIX - JUDGE TERRY'S FIRST DUELX - SENATOR BRODERICK'S FIRST DUELXI - JUANITA AVENGEDXII - CALIFORNIA'S DUELING BARD OF AVONXIII - GENTLEMAN JOHNXIV - THE DUEL AT RANCHO DEL PASOXV - THE CAPTAIN AND THE AUCTIONEERXVI - THE LEGGETT-MORRISON DUELXVII - GROVELING IN LOS ANGELESXIII - HONORABLE MENTION: 1852XIX - THE SENATE CHALLENGES THE HOUSEXX - THE DENTIST AND THE GROCERXXI - THE SURPRISE ACCEPTANCEXXII - THE FATAL FRIENDSHIPXXIII - THE FOOL ALTERNATEand more....
Synopsis"Choose Your Weapon: The Duel in California, 1847 1861" describes in graphic detail the major figures, causes, and means by which the Golden State's 75 "affairs of honor" of that timeframe were fought. The number of shootouts between these "gentleman" was greater than that of any other state during those years. Because so many duels were fought over politics, the book reveals much about the major politicians and newspaper editors of that era. In addition, there is a great deal of irony. For example, in 1850 Assemblyman George Penn Johnston crafted a bill that provided severe penalties for anyone convicted of dueling. Still, it remained impossible to empanel a jury that would convict a duelist. Eight years later this same legislator sent a challenge to a member of the State Senate, and, in the shootout that followed, killed him. Though found not guilty, he was the first duelist to be tried under the very statute he had written. New evidence also reveals there was far more paradox than previously imagined regarding the infamous duel between U.S. Senator David C. Broderick and State Supreme Court Justice David Terry. One of the most grueling duels ever to take place on the frontier was the 1853 faceoff between U.S. Senator William Gwin and Congressman Joseph W. McCorckle. Fought in the hills above bucolic San Mateo with 54 caliber Mississippi Yagers at forty paces, by dint of several miracles neither was killed. In summary, "Choose Your Weapon" provides readers with an invaluable historical primer on California s Golden Era, as well as the tumultuous temperament of its pioneer politicians and newspaper editors.", "Choose Your Weapon: The Duel in California, 1847-1861" provides a complete, graphic portrait of 75 notable duels between California's leading politicians and newspaper men during and after the Gold Rush era., In Gold Rush-era California, gunfighters weren't outlaws or desperadoes -- they were were prominent journalists, legislators, governors, and judges. Choose Your Weapon brings to life a now-forgotten time, when California was a raw new state with politics as violent as any banana republic. This was the Golden Age of dueling, when prominent citizens would settle their political and personal disputes with gunfire, according to the venerable law of the code duello. Choose Your Weapon documents every notable duel to have occurred in California, from the arrival of U.S. dueling culture with the first American settlers to the end of dueling's popularity on the eve of the Civil War. In the heyday of dueling culture, men from all walks of life, from politicians to manual laborers, fought formal duels. Duels could be triggered by political battles to shape state government--or they could be fought over a woman or a personal slight. Braggarts often proved to be cowards on the field of honor, and many a quiet and peaceable man could shoot with deadly accuracy when reputation was at stake. For the California gentlemen of the 1850s, honor or dishonor--and life or death--could be decided with a single shot.
LC Classification NumberCR4595.C2B87 2016
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Ratings and reviews
Most relevant reviews
- 19 Dec, 2017
Interesting history book, good value
I bought it out of curiosity, some interesting stories each of them short and quick to readVerified purchase: YesCondition: New
