Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • By the Sword

  • A History of Gladiators, Musketeers, Samurai, Swashbucklers, and Olympic Champions
  • By: Richard Cohen
  • Narrated by: Richard Cohen
  • Length: 19 hrs and 31 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (7 ratings)
Get this deal Try for £0.00
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
By the Sword cover art

By the Sword

By: Richard Cohen
Narrated by: Richard Cohen
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Buy Now for £17.99

Buy Now for £17.99

Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Miyamoto Musashi cover art
Paradoxes of Defence cover art
The Shogun's Last Samurai Corps cover art
The Manly Art: Bare-Knuckle Prize Fighting in America cover art
The Ill-Made Knight cover art
Autumn Lightning cover art
The Book of Man cover art
The Sacred Band cover art
Bare Knuckle Boxing cover art
1922: Scenes from a Turbulent Year cover art
1964 - The Greatest Year in the History of Japan cover art
The Essential Englishman cover art
The First Samurai cover art
Bygone Badass Broads cover art
Samurai Rising cover art
Striking Distance cover art

Summary

Napoleon fenced. So did Shakespeare, Karl Marx, Grace Kelly, and President Truman, who as a schoolboy would practice fencing with Bess - his future wife - when the two of them returned home from school. Lincoln was a canny dueler. Ignatius Loyola challenged a man to a duel for denying Christ's divinity (and won). Less successful, 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. With wit and insight, Richard Cohen gives us an engrossing history of the world via the sword.
©2002, 2008 Narrative Tension, Inc. (P)2020 Tantor
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History
Weapons & Warfare World Combat Sports & Self-Defense Martial Arts Olympics & Paralympics Sports History Fencing Sport
Show More Show Less

What listeners say about By the Sword

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Audible.co.uk reviews

Amazon reviews
Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Amazon Customer

Great writing let down by narrator

Not meaning to sound unkind: the story was fantastic but I couldn't understand a word the narrator said, really I think this book deserved a professional reader to match the excellent writing. I'll need to find a paperback copy to finish it.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!