I watched Ridley Scott's The Duellists the other night and it has gotten me interested in the history of duelling. Yearly, I like to compose a small list of history books on random subjects that I know little about but find interesting and read them over the summer holidays. So now I am wondering if any of you have suggestions on a good book on the (global) history of duelling.
The book I come across most on google is The Duel: a history of duelling by Robert Baldick but it dates from 1965 so I am afraid it might be a bit academically dated. Are there any more recent works that you suggest or is Mr. Baldick's book still the best around?
Baldick's book is pretty outdated. Its fun and full of anecdotes, but definitely not the place to start for a good history. I maintain an extensive bibliography on the history of dueling here (and my own writings here). There really isn't a great, book out there that is both international in scope and academic in quality though, unfortunately. V.G. Kiernan's 1988 book is roughly the best to fit that description, but I have various reservations about it as well (not in the same way one does about Baldick though, to be fair).
For a broad introduction, I find Richard Hopton's 2011 book to be the "if you're going to read a single book" recommendation. It's a popular history, but a well written one so what I point to. If you are willing to be a bit more narrow in focus, I have a number of further starred recommendations in there, but it is almost entirely broken up by national focus.