Put Up Your Dukes!
R. Alan Lewis
President, Ground Zero Books, Ltd.
At the end of last month’s column, we promised to address the varied ways in which the word “Duke” appears in titles, authors, and subject matter in works of war, peace and politics. This is more than homage to the illustrious John Wayne, the ultimate twentieth-century Duke, film star, and prototypical American warrior as cowboy, cop, soldier, sailor, or Marine. One of the most interesting books on John Wayne is by Pat Stacy, who claimed a long-term relationship with this American hero in his book entitled Duke: A Love Story (our item 42935).
In the nineteenth century, Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, was known as The Iron Duke. This was not because of his skill with ironing clothing or because of any link to the invention of the steam iron. It is true that the Duke of Wellington was “es-steamed,” but not in a technological way. He was a man of deeply held convictions (none of which resulted in jail time). His will was steadfast, or to some inflexible. He was solid, strong, firm, and dominating. He was the representation of the British Army for half a century, from Waterloo to the era of the Crimean War. Over time his firmness became inflexibility, his steadfastness became extreme conservatism, his strength became rigidity to a fault, and his dominance due to this battlefield and strategic prowess became domination by virtue of pride and position. He, sadly, was a man who rose to greatness, and lived far beyond his early achievements to erode the honor, prestige, and glory won in his youth. We have many works that address his life and works. A classic from the era of heroic biography is Sir Arthur Bryant’s, The Great Duke (our item 4919). In a later generation, Elizabeth Langford produced a two volume treatment that covered the flowering of the Duke of Wellington’s career and its later ebbing (our items 2927 and 7881).
Moving from a sublime figure to a person some would consider ridiculous, we come to a modern day Ku Klux Klan leader, David Duke. Clearly not a military figure, Duke is a political figure as well as a social lightning rod. Based in the South, he has at time had regional impact and attempted to have national impact. He transformed the rhetoric of racism from obvious race-baiting to a more nuanced form of discrimination and hate mongering. We have many works on the Ku Klux Klan, modern Southern politics, race relations and racism, and Louisiana local politics. One of the most interesting treatments of this individual and the political perspective he represents is Tyler Bridges’ The Rise of David Duke (our item 38754).
Perhaps more pathetic than ridiculous is a twentieth-century figure who lost a throne, and to many ultimately his reputation—the Duke of Windsor. After his death he has emerged as a man who would today be referred to disparagingly as a WUSS, dominated by his wife. He has also been accused of being a Nazi sympathizer and possibly a collaborator. For his side of things, there is no better work than his autobiography, A King’s Story (our item 3252).
The term Duke has been not only the property of royalty, heroes, and charlatans, but also a sobriquet of respect given to sports figures and entertainers beyond John Wayne. Duke Ellington was perhaps the jazziest musician to bear this nickname. Barry Ulanov has written a thoughtful and insightful biography (our item 28252). Sports have put up more dukes than most boxers. Baseball has used the name repeatedly over the years, from figures like Duke Snyder to The Duke of Havana, which is also the title of the biography by Steve Fainaru and Ray Sanchez (our item 38066).
Duke is not just a name or a nickname; it can also be a place, such as Duke University. Elizabeth Locke has penned a remarkable work called Duke Encounters (our item 27933), which captures activities and experiences gained at this remarkable educational institution in Durham, North Carolina.
Dukes are not only subjects or parts of titles, they are also authors. Neville Duke wrote a memorable work on aviation, the Book of Flying (our item 22124). We are not sure how high it rose on the best seller list, but by all accounts the author rose to the occasion in his treatment of the topic. Joseph Duke tackled a more fundamental topic, and in a way got physical, with his opus Atoms on the Move, (our items 6002 and 6003).
Royalty has a long tradition of Dukes (although we are unaware of any actual Duke of Earl). Traditionally, Duke was a hereditary title (at least it was in England until the Parliament converted all of the members of the House of Lords into life peers). Sometimes titles were lost in more dramatic fashion, such as during the French and Russian Revolutions. The French Revolution was, for many nobles, a heady time, and the treatment of captured nobility was, by all accounts, “a cut above.” However, during the Russian Revolution, many aristocrats fled into exile. While deprived of their lands, wealth, and titles by the Bolsheviks in their homeland, many like Grand Duke Alexander tried to maintain their position in the Russian Diaspora. His remarkable story is told in part in his Always a Grand Duke (our item 12403).
Finally, there is the usage of the work Duke as a form of respect and recognition as to proficiency, prestige, professionalism, or prominence. Even criminals and spies have gained such recognition, as is recorded in Geoffrey Wolff’s The Duke of Deception (our item 36929).
Much like a dermatologist or an allergist, we have only scratched the surface in terms of the role of Duke in works on war, peace, and politics, or the depth and breadth of our holdings. We again invite suggestions for topics for future columns. While we have significant material on social diseases in the military, and works on vice cops, out of deference to the younger set that reads our columns, we have decided NOT to do a column on venereal disease and sexuality in the armed forces (but will be happy to provide a targeted listing to qualifying adults). Given that we are based in Washington, DC, and have been buffeted by an extraordinary record breaking and snow shovel battering winter season, we are considering a future column on winter warfare, but may save that for next November or December. If we receive a suggestion for a column that we use, the submitter will be granted a special discount on a future purchase of his or her choice. For those of you who are used to seeing a discount offered in these columns, we toyed with the idea of suggesting a surcharge on any of the specific items highlighted, since supplies are limited, but that approach seemed counterintuitive to our prevailing business philosophy of unexcelled customer service, outstanding items for sale, and favorable pricing. Therefore, we will continue our practice of offering a ten percent discount upon request; please use the discount code APRILDISCOUNT when you place your order via our website. As always, we appreciate your messages, comments on the columns, want lists, and suggestions, and look forward to responding to you.
