Giles Hunt

In 1809, as Napoleon was redrawing the map of Europe, the English Foreign Secretary and the Secretary of War met early one morning, and then the Secretary of War shot the Foreign Secretary in the ass. This wasn't the first duel between such prominent politicians, and even though the practise had been falling out of favour for many years, nor would it be the last. However, this particular duel has retained some fame over the years because of its consequences, which were profound. Much of Hunt's book deals in contrasting the biographies of the two protagonists: one, the wealthy, aristocratic Castlereagh, entering politics as if his birthright; the other, born to a itinerant actress, succeeding in politics by his wits. This is a great story, economically told (albeit with a weird digression into speculation on the cause of Castlereagh's insanity—irrelevant to the main story, it seems to me).… (mais)