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The art and history of personal combat
A comprehensive history of classical and historical swordsmanship, this volume details uses of the broadsword, two-hander, and rapier as well as the dagger, bayonet, and halberd. Vintage engravings, line art, photographs, and other illustrations grace nearly every page and the author touches on other types of modern weapons, including rifles and handguns.
- GenresHistory
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1971
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 25, 2020
A bold attempt to outline a given definition of "personal combat" and dive through its experience. Heavily focused on European swordplay (and knifework), Mr. Wise includes substantial sections of renaissance swordplay illustrations, though primarily as representations of the style of the era, not as an instruction manual.
The two substantial lacunae in this text are unarmed combat and non-European/colonized American combat. Considering that most combat in any era has been unarmed, he gives surprisingly short shrift to those disciplines, merely touching briefly on bare-knuckle boxing. Additionally, Samurai weaponry and styles are referred to briefly, but no mention is made of Chinese arts, Mongolian wrestling, Zulu warfare, Filipino Kali, or any of a myriad combative styles (that also feature in local artistic representations).
The bibliography alone is well worth it for anyone interested in Western Martial Arts- it would likely be 5-stars but for the chauvinism/bizarre choice of including WW2 aerial combat as an example of "personal combat" but not non-European combat sports or dueling traditions.
For a fight choreographer, this is not rich in technique that's readily minable unless you already know your swordplay quite well, but there are some good stories that illustrate the mindset (and madness) of dueling.
The two substantial lacunae in this text are unarmed combat and non-European/colonized American combat. Considering that most combat in any era has been unarmed, he gives surprisingly short shrift to those disciplines, merely touching briefly on bare-knuckle boxing. Additionally, Samurai weaponry and styles are referred to briefly, but no mention is made of Chinese arts, Mongolian wrestling, Zulu warfare, Filipino Kali, or any of a myriad combative styles (that also feature in local artistic representations).
The bibliography alone is well worth it for anyone interested in Western Martial Arts- it would likely be 5-stars but for the chauvinism/bizarre choice of including WW2 aerial combat as an example of "personal combat" but not non-European combat sports or dueling traditions.
For a fight choreographer, this is not rich in technique that's readily minable unless you already know your swordplay quite well, but there are some good stories that illustrate the mindset (and madness) of dueling.
June 20, 2012
Excellent overview of the historical progress of weapons for personal combat.
May 7, 2016
The text is meh and more than once erroneous, but there is a very nice selection of images. I also enjoyed the brief section on pistol dueling, as it's new territory for me.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews