RICHARD COHEN is the author of By the Sword, a three-thousand-year history of swordplay. The former publishing director of Hutchinson and of Hodder & Stoughton and the founder of Richard Cohen Books, he was for two years program director of the Cheltenham Festival of Literature. He is a visiting professor of creative writing at the University of Kingston-upon-Thames, has written for The New York Times and most leading London newspapers, and has appeared on BBC radio and television. He lives in New York City.