Following its creation as a country in 1861, Italy experienced a wave of dueling that led commentators to bemoan a national duellomania evidenced by the sad spectacle of a duel a day.
Pamphlets with titles like Down with the Duel and The Shame of the Duel all communicated the passion of those who could not believe that a people supposedly just returned to the path of progress and civilization had wholeheartedly embraced such a barbaric custom.
Yet these critics were consistently countere.
Ohio State University Press Politics of the sword: dueling, honor, and masculinity in modern italy, paperback/steven c. hughes
