The Complete Book Of Knife Fighting [Paperback]

William L. Cassidy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1997

This is the classic book on knife fighting from one of the world's foremost experts. From it, you will learn all the facets of the art: assassination methods, history and development of knife design and in-depth reviews of the techniques perfected by Fairbairn, Biddle, Applegate and others. Rare photos and never-before-published info on Oriental techniques.

Product Details

• Paperback: 119 pages
• Publisher: Paladin Press; Reprint edition (January 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0873640292
• ISBN-13: 978-0873640299
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,062,609 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Classical If a Bit Dated Primer on Knife Fighting, December 21, 1999

By 

Taiji 218 (The Frozen North) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Book Of Knife Fighting (Paperback)

First off, I recommend that you buy this book if you are at all interested in knife fighting. This is one of the first and one of the classical American books on knife fighting. It covers all of the basic techniques that American forces have used for many, many years. At the same time, this book is a little short on techniques, and it is entirely absent the escrima techniques that have become very popular over the past couple of decades. If you don't look at this book as everything for everybody, you will find it a very good buy and not be disappointed. On the other hand, if you're looking for the snappiest way to open and close your balisong, you're going to have to look elsewhere, as this book was written before that time.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not about knife fighting, this is about knife duels, July 24, 2001

By 

Don Roley (Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Book Of Knife Fighting (Paperback)

On page 69 of this book, Cassidy makes it clear that, "Knife fighting is not a glamourous face- to- face duel..." And yet the bulk of the book seems devoted to just that- two guys duelling it out with knives.

The problem is that unlike certain areas that are known for their knife arts, modern day Americans do not usually run around openly carrying knives or swords. The chances of a knife on knife duel are somewhat slim in this case. But the techniques taught in this book, based as they are on fencing, almost all depend on both guys being armed with knives and nothing else. Passata Sotto, In- Quartata and Stoccatta all are pretty much the teeth of what is taught in this book, and all depend on both guys being armed with something pointy.

The idea of taking fencing stuff and applying it to knives is quite obvious if you know what to look for. There seems to be no use of the free hand at all except for one technique. And the idea that the other guy might grab your hand is not explored at all.

Many of the techniques make me pause. As the thrust and such are demonstrated in the photos you can see how the demonstrators are seriously off balance and would not be able to dodge quickly should they be attacked in this position. Many of the counter moves they show work because the attacker is using these types of off balanced thrusts.

Some things also make my jaw drop. For example, a kick to the crotch is shown. But you can easily reach the same area with your hand and can guess how easy it would be to slice the kicking leg with the extra length of a knife. And when thrusting in passata sotto and the like the person is open to a counter strike by the wounded adversary before he can get out of range. All in all, this book seems to be a collection of those techniqes that street fighters giggle about and tell you not to do in a real fight.

There is some good history in this book about some of the big names in knife fighting instruction. Some myths about Jim Bowie are laid to rest. But it is all too little to make up for the technique section. And the section of different types of knives does not deal with popular modern knives like the ballisong. And some of the knives shown are no longer made. Worse, the author takes up a good deal of space touting his own design, which probably is also not made anymore.

In short, if you want to round out your knowedge of knife fighting history you might want to pick up this book. If you are looking for a first book on how to use one, get something else.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 80% HISTORICAL & 20% "HOW-TO", April 30, 2008

By 

Troy A. Lettieri "Professional Warrior" (NC, USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Complete Book Of Knife Fighting (Paperback)

This is just an outstanding reference on knife fighting. It is a historical overview and technical look at employment of all the classic methods as developed by Fairbairn, Applegate, Sykes and others. This book does a good job in balancing the critical and relevant matter of the techniques with the historical information, making this the ideal book for the novice and expert in bladecraft. This book covers the famous and influential blade masters of the time, their techniques, tools of the trade and finally tactics for the knife fighter. This book is by no means the best "how-to" book on the market but it was never meant to be strictly a "how-to" book. It is clearly and intelligently written, as well as clearly illustrated. Overall for historical study this book is highly recommended. I personally do not agree with many of the methods depicted in this book, but this does not make this book any less worth studying for the professional combatives enthusiast.