Customer Reviews

The Bowie Knife: Unsheathing an American Legend

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There is a lot of good material in here, along with some questionable material - but what is desperately lacking is organization. It IS arranged into chapters, but they don't seem coherent. It is a great big album of STUFF, and it is left up to the poor reader to try to figure what the point of each item is, and what goes with what.

It does include a lot of pictures, but they have several problems, too.

- Most of the pictures include multiple items, both knives and props. It is ALWAYS a mistake to prop knife photos, unless the prop is directly associated with THAT PARTICULAR knife. That is almost never the case here. The result is that the random props set up false historical associations. And not only are the props irrelevant to the knives, the knives in group photos are often irrelevant to each other.

- The pictures are only of knives Mr. Flayderman owns or owned. While he does live at the center of the universe, there are 'several' knives that never made it into his orbit. So, as big as this book is, there are probably more types of bowies left out than included. And there is a fair number of non bowies included, merely because he happened to own them. Also many of the knives shown are nowhere near the best surviving examples of their types, in condition.

So... I figure it would take a really experienced person the best part of a year to sort it out. And the only efficient way to do it would be to buy TWO copies, cut off their bindings, cut up the pages into individual items, then "edit" it all into a coherent whole -- using a folio sized album, and leaving gaps for what is not there (which you could then fill in from other books, especially auction catalogs). Flayderman should have done this editing himself, or at least hired it done. [This is exactly what I did when upgrading the somewhat album-like Levine's Guide I into the highly organized LG-II.]

A beginner tackling this book would be even more confused than a new driver from rural Idaho renting a car at Logan Airport and trying to drive around rush hour Boston (Boston does not believe in street signs, and Mr Flayderman does not believe in breaking his text into sections with headers). Plus the beginner would not find any help separating fact from fable. Flayderman includes it all.

Plus his writing style reminds me of this Wikipedia quote about George Sala: His literary style, highly coloured, bombastic, egotistic, and full of turgid periphrases...

BRL... [author of Levine's Guide to Knives and Their Values, editions 1-4)

Many knife collectors will welcome this edition to their bookshelves. The high numbers of high quality knifemakers and eager customers in recent years has created a natural interest in the early beginnings of the uniquely American Bowie knife that needs to be satisfied. Mr.Flayderman has heard the calling and has delivered in abundance. There is something for everybody in this book. The quality of documentary evidence is commendable and I even liked the pictures but don't think of this as a coffee table book. There is more here than can be covered in this humble review. The owner of this edition will return to it again and again and will glean yet another glimpse of our American history when the country was young and wild. If knives are of interest to you this book will serve.

This is the most incisive, complete and thorough history of everything that can be known about the much-storied bowie knife. It exhaustively examines its legendary origins, its lineage and its significance as a unique historical weapon. This book is superb in all departments, from its many stunningly rendered photographs of breathtakingly crafted cutlery, to its scholarly and authoritative exposition and analysis. The book also examines the bowie's history and its surrounding mysteries and legends with peerless erudition and insight. The end result is a superb and completely satisfying book. I acquired it two years ago and am still continually returning to its text and well-annotated photographs and prints. A classic.

Excellent book. I was a little leary of spending $80 bucks on a book but than remembered the last time, and did't purchase the "Antique Bowie Knife Book" Glad I did purchase this book I think it is everthing the Antique Bowie Book is and more. Wonderful pictures of Bowie knives as well as alot litature on them also. Nice addition is the actual pitures of people and the knives they carried.. If you area Bowie collector and don't own "The Antique Bowie Knife Book" you will be please with this If you do own it you may not think its woth it since alot of thwe same knives are covered

Excellent Pictures and stories. I would like to see more information about the knife makers and markings applicable to each maker.

I purchased this book as a gift for my uncle. It is well worth the money! It is a coffee table-type book with thick heavy pages and LOTS of beautifully detailed photos. His only negative comment when I gave it to him was, "That is a dagger on the cover!" and He knows his knives!! I guess the publisher doesn't know what a bowie knife looks like. If you like bowie knives or know someone who does, this is a perfect book.

There have certainly been some inaccurate books on the Bowie knife published in the past. Some even make the claim all those fancy little San Francisco gold rush gambler's dirks are actually Bowies.

This is by far the best book currently in print on the subject. If anyone can do better, they should go for it.

After an hour leafing through Norm Flayderman's "The Bowie Knife: Unsheathing an American Legend" I had no doubt I had gotten my $75 worth. The effort that must gone into researching it is impressive, as is his expertise in analyzing the material. The photographs are artistically composed and are of the highest quality. There is no doubt in my mind that this will remain unchallenged as the definitive study of the bowie knife.

This is not really a complaint, but I wish this were two separate books: one which contained all the beautiful, large format photos with captions, the other which contained all the text in a smaller format that would be more convenient to read at length. Usually, a "coffee table" book doesn't contain this much text.

I would recommend that anyone interested in Bowies buy this book. If you think it's expensive, just look at it as an investment: in fifteen or twenty years it will have gone up in value just like your old Sheffield bowies.

This is an exhaustively researched and dense book, brimming with lavish photographs. It's large and heavy, which makes for a lovely coffee table book, but makes actually reading it a little awkward (at least for me). I have yet to work my way through perhaps 25% of the actual written content, but have flipped though all of the photos. I must admit, as a custom knife maker, the photos are the main reason I bought this book. The history is also important to me to a lesser degree; and I plan to work my way through that as well, but the book really excels in being a visual guide to the historical bowie knife.

My only real criticism so far, and it's a small one, is that the actual layout of the pages seem somehow dated; that is, the colors, fonts, and internal design has somewhat of a 70s feel to it or something. If this seems like nitpicking to you- it is. I bought this book as more of an art piece, so this is something I noticed. Perhaps you won't even know what I'm talking about (I used to be a graphic designer in another life).

All in all, this book is a must for knife enthusiast, collectors of antique arms, and American history buffs. I have yet to find a book on the subject that even approaches this one. Yes, it's expensive, but once you have on in hand you'll understand why.

Norm Flayderman has written an outstanding book on Bowie Knives. Of all the books that I have read, I feel this is by far the best. It contains everything from letters and excerpts from books and newspapers from the civil war days to present day. It is a book for everyone from serious collectors and historians to those who just want to look at pictures of great knives. I, as a collector of knives, highly recommend this book. You will not be disappointed. Larry Parker