Customer Reviews

Surviving Armed Assaults: A Martial Artists Guide to Weapons, Street Violence, and Countervailing Force

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If the title "Surviving Armed Assaults" catches your eye because your current situation causes you some concern that you might have to someday; I think buying Lawrence Kane's latest book would be money exceptionally well spent. Why? Within its 329 pages, you will find clearly written, easily understood, and also remembered, hard earned wisdom backed up by numerous real life depictions, and even some mistakes by experts. You could spend thousand of dollars and countless hours in class work and individual practice and yet not gain some of the insights that Kane provides. An example, from pages 133-135 on Verbal Judo, rings true to me as we use VJ extensively in my work with forensic psychiatry. Emphasis on situational awareness and avoidance is also well represented. As as I have written elsewhere in Loren Christensen's book "Warriors"... 'The Cost of It'... of taking a human life, even with justification, may carry with it a very high emotional price. Lawrence Kane provides more than enough well documented examples to help you avoid such a 'cost' for most of us out there "on the pointy end" of life. Read it, then periodically read it again, practice, maintain situational awareness and as necessary follow through via his excellent and comprehensive bibliography / web site data for further information as your personal situation dictates. And don't get hung up on the Japanese translatons or exotic weapons that are also covered primarily for the martial artist readers. You never know when you may meet a crazed person with a sword (page 248)... From my forensic experiences, I could tell you stories, but Kane does it better. Read and heed, you will be safer for doing so; even if you skip the keys defense, pages 238-39, which I, as other reviewers have mentioned, find inferior to a kubaton or the like. Be prepared, as this book may help you do so, and you should be safer "on that day"...

First, I want to say that I really liked this book, and think that it's an excellent introduction to basic self-defense concepts. Second, it needs to be clarified that Loren Christensen is not the author -- he wrote the forward.

This is a "concept" book -- which automatically puts it way ahead of most other martial arts texts available (you know, the ones that say, "when the criminal initiates X attack, respond with Y technique"). No, this book primarily delves into essential topics like situational awareness, preparedness, and common sense. Furthermore, a number of informative case studies are referred to. Instead of being like every other martial arts book out there, "Surviving Armed Assaults" doesn't waste a lot of space with questionable techniques. Instead, it says, "Things can be dangerous out there, for example -- THIS might happen, and then what are you going to do?" Most other books barely touch on these subjects (outside of the introduction and back cover), so it was refreshing to see such a thorough presentation.

Sadly, it is not perfect. Being a traditional martial artist, the author can't seem to resist using Asian terminology and showing scenarios involving a number of weapons that it's unlikely you'll encounter on the street (i.e., pole-axe, spear, swords, sai, throwing knives, and even a compound bow!). It is true that people are occasionally assaulted with swords or spears, but I had to chuckle when I saw that the defender was similarly armed. That is a minor complaint.

My major complaint involves several counter-productive suggestions made by the author. First, he advocates the dreaded "Fillipino grip" as a viable alternative to the sabre grip (which he acknowledges to be less than secure) -- if certain practitioners of the FMA have been advocating pointing your thumb at the target (instead of properly wrapping it around the handle) then it must be good to do this, right? I don't think so. Next, he advocates defending oneself by holding one's keys between one's fingers "like a claw" -- I wish the "experts" would stop telling people to do that! Sounds like a really great idea -- until you hit something a few times, thereby cutting up your own fingers (and possibly severing a nerve). I know the author has read MacYoung's books, as he quotes from them several times, but he must've skipped over that part -- as well as the part which advised against "wrapping a chain around one's hand to use as a fistload," which could easily result in crushed and broked fingers. Aside from that handful of errors, this was an outstanding work . . . if the author corrects them in the next edition, it has the potential to be a classic.

If you can overlook the few bits of bad advice, this is one of the better self-defense books currently available. It is especially suited for women and teenagers (although some of the crime scene photos might gross 'em out a bit).

"Surviving Armed Assaults" is by far and away the BEST book on protecting yourself against weapon attacks that I've ever read. It's incredibly thorough and 100% B.S. FREE! There's no "kick the knife out of his hand" silliness in this book; just straight forward, practical information.

It's absolutely superb. And it's not just me who thinks so. The book has endorsements from many luminaries from the worlds of martial arts, self-protection, and security including Peter Consterdine, Dave Grossman, Jeff Cooper, Dan Anderson etc. This is a book that anyone who is serious about self-protection or practical martial arts needs to read.

If you want to learn how to protect yourself against armed assaults, this is the book! Indeed, if you buy one martial arts book this year, it should be this one!

Iain Abernethy 5th Dan, Coach with the British Combat Association and author of numerous martial arts books and DVDs

I had the honor of writing the Forward to Surviving Armed Assaults, an incredibly information-packed book on the subject. It's quite different than others on the market in that while it does offer techniques for self-defense, it's more about strategy, mindset, and fighting concepts and principles. Take it from a guy who has trained and taught the martial arts since 1965, and who has faced not just a few violent encounters in my 25 years as a police officer and a soldier in Vietnam: it's strategy, principles, and mindset that are going to save you.

Kane goes into detail as to how to avoid a confrontation with an armed assailant, the importance of awareness, and the absolute necessity of preparedness. Practicing these things is not as fun as sidekicking and executing throws, but they are proven techniques that will save your bacon.

He also provides important technical information about various weapons. He even talks about explosives. The more you know about the intricacies of the many weapons that can end your day, the better your defense. Knowledge is power.

Lawrence Kane, by virtue of his job, has faced the dragon in hundreds of confrontations with violent people. He has learned from these unique experiences what works and what doesn't. Few people, and even fewer self-defense instructors, have had his real-world contact with highly dangerous assailants (though that hasn't stopped the two-year black belt instructors from teaching ridiculous techniques).

Buy this one first and then buy the technique-driven books.

Loren W. Christensen, author of over 20 books on the fighting arts.

I will admit that I started reading this book a bit biased toward it being good. I have read other books by Kane that I enjoyed, I've contributed a chapter, as did Kane, to Loren Christensen's "Fighter's Fact Book 2" and Christensen wrote a Foreword for the book, and to top if off, best selling author Barry Eisler mentioned me in his praise for the book on the inside cover. So yes, I expected it to be a good book and one that I would like.

However, what I did not expect is how good it really is and how much excellent material Kane offers in this one volume. Because of the things mentioned in the first paragraph, one could easily say I am biased, and maybe I am a bit. With that said, I am writing a review and endorsing this book wholeheartedly because it is an exceptional addition to anyone's self-defense library and a book that has potential to save lives if people read it and listen to Kane's advice.

The first chapter is on awareness, a topic I also write and speak about, so I was especially interested in what Kane had to say. So what does he do? He starts the chapter off with a quote from Ani DiFranco, "Any tool is a weapon if you hold it right." This grabbed my attention because I once headed the local security for a concert of hers and had a very good talk about penjak silat with her bodyguard as we waited for her to change so we could walk her to the bus. It means nothing to anyone else, but hooked me. I continued and was fully engrossed with the statistics and examples Kane provided relating to violence. Reading those made me glad that there are those of us out here doing what we can to prevent violence and teach people to avoid or deal with it if necessary. Something Kane's "Surviving Armed Assaults" does very well. Kane did an excellent job with his chapter on awareness, and even though he teaches a modified color code a bit differently than I teach, I believe this chapter should be read by everyone in order to wake up and be more aware so they could avoid many potentially dangerous situations.

Speaking of avoidance, that was the focus of chapter two. Kane not only makes a great argument of why you should avoid violence, but provides strategies to do so. He follows this with a chapter on scenarios that extends the awareness and avoidance topics to situations such as car jackings, cash machine safety, hostage situations, sexual assault, rape, workplace violence and more. Before dealing with physical responses, Kane focuses on de-escalation strategies in chapter four. This is an often overlooked aspect of self-defense books and a welcome and needed addition here. Many self-defense books focus on striking and kicking and forget that if you can talk your way out of a situation you will be much better off than having fought your way out. Kane gives some excellent advice with his de-escalation strategies and I again wish everyone would learn these. One of the reasons a person is much better off by de-escalating a situation is because of the potential legal ramifications that may follow a physical altercation. As an attorney, I am very familiar with such things, and feel that Kane did a good job with his chapter on countervailing force that included legal considerations.

The remaining chapters focus on armed conflict, rules to live by, the aftermath of violence, and weapon features and functions. Some of the information in these chapters is biased toward Kane's karate training. Practitioners from other styles may not benefit from these chapters as much as the first ones, but I would encourage everyone to take even the karate parts and look how the principles behind what Kane teaches applies to their own art or self-defense system. (Kane's nine rules could apply to any art or system)

This is an excellent book filled with practical and realistic information related to weapons and violence. There is researched data and personal anecdotes that support Kane's perspectives on violence and his illustrations of real violence and what to do about it, or most importantly, how to be aware of it and avoid it altogether. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to martial artists and anyone interested in self-defense.

Reviewed by Alain Burrese, J.D., author of Streetfighting Essentials.

"22 knives," Lawrence Kane said. We had just passed through security at a football game and taken our seats. "I just counted 22 knives between the security and our seats." He then proceed to explain to me the "tells" the knife carriers had, where they wore their knives and what that meant as well.

The world hasn't changes much in many ways, one of those constants is people kill each other. They use, make-shift weapons, and weapons deliberately designed to kill you. Put these weapons in the hands of a remorseless punk, career criminal, the mentally imbalanced, just stupid, or even ad hoc terrorist and the problem is all on your end. Kane instills awareness without paranoia, wisdom with context and opens your eyes to the subtle precursors to violence.

"Surviving Armed Assault"...get it, get the edge.

WOW! That is how I would describe the well organized, well thought out, cornucopia of information that is presented in Lawrence A. Kane's, "Surviving Armed Assault: A Martial Artist's Guide to Weapons, Street Violence, & Countervailing Force." I've had this book for awhile now and have, on several different occasions, sat down and skimmed through different sections when time permitted. Just recently however, I was able to sit down and read this book from cover to cover, and boy let me tell you that I was thoroughly impressed with what I read.

Lawrence does a terrific job of organizing the information presented in this book in a very easy to read and follow format that takes you through each step in the survival process. This is not a book on techniques; rather it is a book on the more important aspect of the principles behind surviving against an armed assault. Which, in my opinion, is far more important than the techniques themselves. That's not to imply that self-defense techniques are not important or valid, it simply means that the technique that may work for one person, may not work so well for another. However, the principle behind the use of the technique will generally work for everyone.

This book is so full of useful information that it should be required reading for not only the self-defense minded individual, but also those whose profession places them in situations where they are more apt to be confronted by an armed individual. This includes, but is no means limited to, law enforcement officers, security personnel, bouncers, paramedics, military personnel, etc.

Having worked as a law enforcement officer, bouncer, and provided security for various businesses and individuals over the years, I found quite a few things in Lawrence's book that I hadn't taken into consideration and am very glad that I had the opportunity to read it first instead of experiencing it in a bad way. As with any good book on the subject of self-defense, Lawrence promotes the use of awareness and avoidance as your primary and most important forms of defense over actual physical techniques. Smart and the hallmark of someone who knows what they are talking about.

Lawrence then delves into various scenarios throughout the book and ways of safely getting out of the situation you may find yourself in without resorting to a physical confrontation with your potential attacker. Some of which is so simple that I hadn't even considered them as options. Although after being presented with them I could see how effective they would and could be in certain situations.

This is followed with sections on using countervailing force and the ramifications of using such force such as; the physical and mental effects, moral implications and considerations, the possible legal ramifications of using force, etc. One point that Lawrence makes, and it is a very good one, is to always remember that the law enforcement officer that you may have to deal with is not your friend! Let me repeat that, the law enforcement officer that you may have to deal with is not your friend! Now Lawrence and I are both not saying that they are the enemy, it's just that you have to protect yourself at all times and the three best things to do are as follows:

1. Keep your mouth shut.
2. Contact your attorney.
3. Keep your mouth shut.

I was particularly fond of Lawrence's 9 rules to live by. Now I am not going to divulge them here, and since you will undoubtedly be purchasing this book after reading this and the other reviews, it will give you one of numerous things to look forward to when it arrives on your doorstep.

One particular section of note was the section related to the types of weapons you are most likely to encounter and how they function. This section is deserving of an entire volume on its own and perhaps Lawrence is working on that as I type this review and as you read it. Let us hope anyhow.

This book and the information contained within it should be a constant companion in your home library, and in the forefront of your mind whenever you are somewhere outside the confines and safety of your own home. On second thought, the information provided in this book should probably be in the forefront of your mind even when you are at home. As Lawrence so profoundly states in this book, you never know when are going to be attacked, by whom, or what that person or persons will attack you with.

I highly recommend this book, "Surviving Armed Assaults," as well as, "The Way of Kata," and "Martial Arts Instruction" all by Lawrence A. Kane as valuable additions to your personal martial arts library.

Shawn Kovacich, martial artist/author of the Achieving Kicking Excellence series.

Surviving Armed Assaults is a terrific addition to any serious library of self defense books. Its emphasis on awareness and avoidance as your most effective survival strategies makes it a worthy companion to works by authors such as Alain Burrese, Loren Christensen, Marc MacYoung, and Peyton Quinn. Kane covers enough aspects of the topic to make the book useful as an encyclopedia, and yet his prose is so readable, and he uses so many real life anecdotes to illustrate his points, that you'll have trouble putting it down. I'll be drawing on some of the lessons learned from SAA in future John Rain books.

This is likely one of the best personal safety books to hit the market in the past couple of years. While there are a few very minor things I don't agree with, such as recommending putting keys between the fingers for an improvised defensive tool and the application of traditional stances & traditional movements for weapon defense, I pretty much agree with most of it. Also, while the de-escalation material is good, it's also more applicable to workplace violence or heated family arguments than actual weapon assaults committed by unknown assailants. However, I do realize that this a book written for martial artists by a martial artist, so I can overlook those few things I don't agree with. However, overall it's one of the best books on surviving weapon threats to come out in quite a while. I would recommend it to anyone interested in learning how to keep themselves safe from potential weapon assaults.

Any time you deal with interpersonal violence, there is a high likelihood of someone attempting to apply something beyond their own hands and feet to make the other person have a bad day. Lawrence Kane addresses that problem in this exhaustive volume.

Kane cites research showing that 70% of the male population carries a knife. In seven years there were over 1.7 million attacks in the U.S. utilizing blunt, bladed, and projectile weapons. 25% of violent crime is committed by someone bearing a weapon. You have a one-in-four chance of getting shot, beaten, or cut and stabbed every time you cross paths with a violent criminal.

Even with this in mind, most martial arts programs do not adequately take weapon defense into consideration. Obviously, this book and others like it are needed.

Kane addresses awareness, avoidance, de-escalation, legal matters, and the aftermath of violence. The meat of the matter is covered in over a hundred pages dealing with improvised weapons, firearms, knives, clubs, and all manner of weapons you are unlikely to come up against on the street; but as the author shows, stranger things have happened. It is always best to be prepared.

The book is wrapped up in the end by an incident that actually happened, as Kane analyzes what each person did right, and what they did wrong.

In 32 years I haven't read anything this comprehensive. Skip the others. Read Surviving Armed Assaults.