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| Cold Steel | 
 enlarge | Author: John Styers
Creator: Louis Lowery
Publisher: Paladin Press
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy New: $11.50
You Save: $8.45 (42%)
New (18) Used (12) from $8.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 186842
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 179
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.5
ISBN: 087364025X
Dewey Decimal Number: 355.348
EAN: 9780873640251
ASIN: 087364025X
Publication Date: June 1, 1974
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New. Cover has NO wear. NO spine seams. NO Remainder mark. Pages are clean with NO markings, NO creases and NO dog-ears. Trade Paperback.
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Product Description
Paladin has obtained exclusive reprint rights to this classic (originally published by Leatherneck magazine), which was the Marine bible of unarmed combat. Emphasizing the practice aspect of bayonet, knife and stick fighting, this rare volume also provides short courses in unarmed combat and knife throwing. For academic study only.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 Bare Hands & Cold Steel! April 30, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book was originally published by the United States Marine Corps magazine "Leatherneck". This treatment is one of the only "classic" works on unarmed hand-to-hand and close combatives. The book is divided into three major areas of military combatives; bayonet fighting, knife fighting/defense, and unarmed combat. Also there is a small subsection on stick fighting that is very good (better then some full titles on the subject), one of the books highlights among many other nuggets of information.
The knife fighting/defense methods that Styers advocates in this book is based on the techniques taught by Anthony Biddle (author of "Do or Die) in World War II. The section on unarmed hand-to-hand combat in its day was one of the best treaties to be published, and a lot of the techniques hold true today. This section is brief but simple and direct and immediately applicable for the untrained fighter.
Styer advocates three rudimentary attack methods. All the attacks utilize an immediate devastating follow-up. When applied with surprise, speed and aggression these techniques are almost foolproof. On defensive techniques no time is wasted on the fancy or complicated methods that could possibly get the defender killed, instead Styer focuses on time tested techniques used in combat in two major conflicts.
Overall this is an incredible historical text that should be looked at by the professional combatant.
 Still a fascinating reference work September 10, 2007
John Styers was bunkmate to one of my jujutsu instructors, Charles Nelson. Charley was the bayonet instructor & Styers handled edged weapons. Together they spent hours analyzing tactics and techniques & broke down many moves at a time when Boxing, wrestling & the odd Judo classes were usually the martial arts in America using systems. When I asked Charley if you could fake a move as Styers showed during a bayonet exchange (like the British did in the movie "Zulu", he said - "believe me, if it's come down to bayonets there's not even time to pray. You're so close to each other they blow their last breath in your face as you ram it into their chests. It's as close to Hell as you'd want to come." Having said that, you can analyze and extrapolate Styers's technique & adapt them to your own situation, such as using a pointed or broken stick like a spear in place of a bayonet if that's the first thing you can lay your hands on. In Guadalcanal such improvisations helped insure survival. My father's cousin, Barney Ross (first man to hold 3 world boxing titles simultaneously) seconded Charley's description of the fighting there. That said, do as Bruce Lee advised & "take what is useful & discard the rest." If you can come away with 6, 5 or even 3 concepts and techniques you can use from Styers's presentatin then it's probably worth the money.
It Delivers What it Promises November 6, 2006
I was referred to this book off of a self-defense forum. I'm glad I was. I was specifically interested in bayonet fighting.
The techniques the book sets forth are basic. That is exactly what I was after. They are simple and easy to learn. They require use of gross motor skills, not fine motor skills as you might find in something detailing advanced, multistep disarms, grappling maneuvers, etc.
It is an excellent primer on extreme close quarter battle.
Styers advocates getting the blade or point into the opponent with extreme prejudice, early and often. A little technique is thrown in to assist.
He is definitely a believer in practicality. Technique is a means to an end (survival), not the end itself.
Reminds me a little of another self-defense oriented author on blades, Don Pentecost. Both emphasize the importance of ferocity and mindset.
When it's time to fight, it's time for violent, ruthless action. They are also both geared toward real-world fights (not duels) that don't last long and which are usually one-on-one affairs.
Unless you have some reason to think that you are going into harm's way in a big way, with multiple occurrences and multiple opponents, mastering the material in this book is probably all (or more) than you'll ever need.
I would reserve judgment on some of the knife-fighting techniques (but not all) and all of the knife-throwing stuff.
 A Classic October 29, 2006
I originally purchased this book about 30 years ago and recently pulled it out again for a refresher. It provides an interesting snapshot of a period in American history when we believed in ourselves and saw those we battled as ignoble savages. Perhaps that was naive, but it sure helped to keep life simple. The preface is a great example:
"To Americans, who fight fair and clean by heritage - when they can - we dedicate this book...That they may save their own lives by confidently engaging their enemy with his own unprincipled principles."
Although I do not have a lot of knowledge about knife fighting, many of the techniques appear to be practical and resemble those taught in the few courses I have attended. Since this book was oriented towards soldiers in combat, some of it would not be relevant (i.e. bayonet drills) to the average person on the street who is interested in personal defense training.
A classic that should be read by anyone interested in military history and/or close combat techniques.
As Valuable Today as Ever November 5, 2005
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
I gave this book a 4 star rating, not 5, simply because the knife methods in it are not, as presented, perfect.
The knife work, obviously heavily influenced by Styers instructor A.J. Drexel Biddle (Author of Do or Die), is very duelistic - that is to say it stays entirely within the realm of two combatants knife on knife, at long range, vying for the right cut or hack to open up the opponent for a kill shot. Now, it's not quite as bad about this as Biddle's work, using a more combative platform (less of a stylized fencing platform), but it's still duelistic. Now, if real fights with knives happened this way, this would be the method for doing it - but, they don't. Most fights involving knives will start unarmed, at close range, and be a drag race between adversaries to get to a weapon first - if that weapon is a knife, you have a fight with a knife. Most knives easily carried and accessed will be small. Range is close, there is very little baiting and dancing around, there is simply up close hooking, cutting and hacking to clear limbs and stabbing to end it.
That said the knife material presented in Cold Steel contains many things you can extract for more modern, closer range, knife combatives. Targets; the hands/limbs, the throat, the chest and heart and the back, are excellent. Use of snap cuts, bi-directional cutting (using both primary and sharp back edges), body mechanics and footwork to improve power are all very good. Also of interest is the attempt to develop physical mechanics for using the knife that directly translate to using empty hands - very progressive concept for the age of the book.
Take the knife work out of the box its presented in, put it with what you do, take what works, discard the rest.
For the big knife practitioners, a big blade does dictate some degree of range and the work in Cold Steel will apply there very well, but it may still be an un-equally armed fight, the same unarmed beginning and "drag race" to achieve superiority with a weapon.
The knife throwing segment is the only part of the knife work I have no use for - throwing your weapon is losing it, and the likelihood of doing any good with a thrown knife under extreme stress, in the mad rush and clash of combat, is slim to none.
The segments on Unarmed Combat and Stick Fighting are great. The Unarmed segment makes excellent use of Elbows, Feet, and Body Mechanics as well as the "combative classic" Edge of Hand blow, the Chin Jab, and a few chokes, releases from holds and a little work from the ground. Very simple, and concise material.
The stick material is fantastic, both the Long End and Short End techniques as presented. Very realistic, directly applicable, material for both close and longer ranges. Simple and direct attacks and defense with the stick/baton, that are easy to practice and learn, and easy to apply with great brutality and force, for great success.
The bayonet material also seems very good - although of limited applicability to anyone not military, or not issued a bayonet and a solid rifle to put it on. It seems practical, and effective when viewed with common sense by someone who's never done it.
This book is extremely worth having as a combatives practitioner, soldier, police or security officer, or self-protection minded citizen. You will learn something from it if you open your mind, take what you can use and discard the rest.
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