Brian R. Price

A warning to new students of historical European swordsmanship: this book is centered on education theory, and is not intended to teach you sword fighting.
That said, it has much in it that is worth reading, for both teachers and students--especially students without access to a teacher. Many of the essays gave me, as a new student of swordsmanship, a much clearer idea of how to proceed in my studies. Essays discuss recommended historical texts and how to approach them, as well as what type of drills and other practice to progress through. Other books on historical swordsmanship instruct in their particular schools and methods, but this one gives an idea of the different techniques and perspecttives that are available for study.

One final note, though, is that this volume suffers from poor copy editing. The number of misspellings and missing or misplaced words is awful. Still, I enjoyed the book, and feel it has something to offer both beginning instructors and those exploring swordsmanship on their own for the first time.… (mais)