In 1826, a merchant called David Landale shot his bank manager dead in a duel. Two centuries later, one of his descendants, James Landale, explains why two rational, educated men might choose to resolve a dispute by shooting at one another. Using newly discovered archives, Duel reconstructs in vivid detail both the encounter and the circumstances surrounding it. Landale also tells the story of dueling itself, explaining where this extraordinary phenomenon came from, and why, in the middle of the nineteenth century, it suddenly lost its social legitimacy. Duel is an utterly engrossing narrative that explains to a modern reader why this curious thing called honour drive so many young men to an early death.