Eric Jager is a Professor of English at the University of California. To date he's written four books on medieval topics.
The (far more interesting) 2021 film by Ridley Scott notwithstanding, The Last Duel is a straightforward work of history detailing a dispute between two nobles in late 14th century France over the supposed rape of one noble's wife.
If you're arriving at this book from the movie it will probably bore you to tears. Where the movie crackles with dramatic tension the book is a much slower, much more chronological exploration of the same event. And even though the nature of the rape itself is called into question by various historical sources, none of the other events described in this book are matters of conjecture, to the point where this book seems like a foregone conclusion from the outset.
I can only blame the marketing department. Medieval history is one of my favorite subjects, but having been led to this book by the movie, I was sorely disappointed by its contents. Even lacking any dramatic impact, I think the book could have been a more enlightening (if you'll forgive the pun) venue for a wider understanding of the time period in which it's set. As it is it's fairly pedestrian, and it lacks the wider, more scholarly viewpoint of other works that delve into the same time period.
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