Customer Reviews

Secrets of Modern Knife Fighting

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This book is primarily a history of the fighting knife and descriptions of the author's preferences in field knives. There isn't much material on actual knife-fighting techniques. The author usually refers the reader to previous works by people such as Fairbairn, Styers and Applegate. There was very little consideration of the Asian knife-fighting styles which surprised me a bit, as I know David Steele is trained in several Asian styles including Escrima. I think this book is made up of Steele's previous magazine articles as it is a little disjointed. It's a good reference book and well worth the money, but I wouldn't recommend it as a how-to or as a first knife-fighting manual. The history related is excellent with some good war stories from folks who had occasion to use the knife in combat.

"Secrets of Modern Knife Fighting" by David E. Steele is a pretty good book, but it is not as one might expect from the title a knife fighting instruction manual. Perhaps a better title would have been `The History of Modern Knife Fighting'.

First printed in 1975, the "Secrets of Modern Knife Fighting" offers the reader a good understanding on how knife fighting developed past to present (or at least to 1975) and a look at various types of fighting knives, such as the Bowie, stiletto, bayonet and folding knives among others. Additionally, David Steele discusses such things as knife fighting underwater, sheaths and sharpening stones, knife wounds and shock, and the custom knife vs. the factory made knife.

The author, David Steele, has a background in knife related martial arts such as escrima, arnis de mano, and Japanese tantojutsu. Furthermore, Mr. Steele served as the supervisor of the Police Weapons Center research project during 1970 - 1971. Mr. Steele certainly has a background in the use of the knife and could have perhaps written an instructional manual if he wished, but that does not appear to have been his intent in writing "Secrets of Modern Knife Fighting".

A true master of any art (to include knife fighting) must understand the history, concepts, and development of that art. When we look at any acknowledged master of the knife, from Senor Don Jose Llulla, better known as Pepe Llulla, to modern day masters such as Worden and Keating they all have a deep knowledge of the history, concepts, and development of the art of the knife. This is something usually overlooked by amateurs and self-proclaimed experts, but clearly understood by the masters.

While no single book can teach you everything about anything, "Secrets of Modern Knife Fighting" is certainly recommended for any student of the knife to build that depth of knowledge needed to become a master of the art.

This book reveals few secrets of actual knife fighting techniques with vast majority of the book dedicated to the history, knife types, and application theory, instead of the how-to application. Although this book covers some interesting topics, most is very dated. With the abundance of knife books available today, this book would strictly be a reference to look back on, to study the evolution of knife fighting. One strange, but interesting topic in this book was a section on underwater knife fighting for frogmen, I believe this is the first time this topic was publish in a book of this type. This book is profusely illustrated with diagrams and photographs. Overall an interesting read for the serious blade practitioner.