I thought I would add my two inflated copper-coated cents worth...I purchased this book when it first came out. I loved it. I loaned it out, and I never saw it again. I bought another copy. It was stolen. So, I purchased another. And this one, no one gets. I appreciate Mr. Amberger's writing style and love the fact that how he writes so thoroughly pisses people off who are too big for their BVDs and too small for their mouths. The book is just fantastic to read. Get it. You'll either love it or hate it.

Provocative, witty, well argued and full of interesting anecdotes. I could hardly put it down.

Many of its chapters explore the "cut vs thrust" debate - an idiocy that sprang into existance along with the advent of that great fashion accessory, the rapier. With seemingly hundreds of eye-witness accounts to vividly back up his arguments, it makes enthralling reading.

Provocative, witty, well argued and full of interesting anecdotes. I could hardly put it down.

Many of its chapters explore the "cut vs thrust" debate - an idiocy that sprang into existance along with the advent of that great fashion accessory, the rapier. With seemingly hundreds of eye-witness accounts to vividly back up his arguments, it makes enthralling reading.

This book is an entertaining read and is certainly well researched in parts. Amberger avoids some of the problem that Richard Cohen encountered in "By the sword" but by and large they both extend their considerable expertise just a bit too broadly to support their arguments. His personal experience in the German duelling halls are exciting to read. He wisely avoids much discussion concerning metalurgy and the actual production of blades and doesn't stray far from the European/American tradition which he knows well.

His dismissal of "academic" arguements is curious though, since writing a book is exactly the sort of thing that attracts academic comment. And even though it is certainly nitpicking to point out typos and grammatical errors rather than to address an author's ideas, when the typos begin to pile up (as they do in the last few chapters of this book) it makes the reader wonder about the degree of fact-checking that went into the rest of the text. His humor was enjoyed by some of the other reviewers, I found it irritating. That is just a matter of personal taste.

His sources for western sword work were voluminous and I would love to have access to the same rich fount of information. The problem with his sources came when he broadened out to Eastern arts. To cite Gilbey's "Secret fighting arts of the world" seriously is hysterical - the book is a deliberate joke. Likewise, Bruce Tenger's martial books have been around for a long time, but there are many other sources available regarding the points and techniques of unarmed Eastern martial arts.

"The Secret History of the Sword" is a nice introduction to the history of bladed combat in the West, but serious students should look further.

This book is an entertaining read and is certainly well researched in parts. Amberger avoids some of the problem that Richard Cohen encountered in "By the sword" but by and large they both extend their considerable expertise just a bit too broadly to support their arguments. His personal experience in the German duelling halls are exciting to read. He wisely avoids much discussion concerning metalurgy and the actual production of blades and doesn't stray far from the European/American tradition which he knows well.

His dismissal of "academic" arguements is curious though, since writing a book is exactly the sort of thing that attracts academic comment. And even though it is certainly nitpicking to point out typos and grammatical errors rather than to address an author's ideas, when the typos begin to pile up (as they do in the last few chapters of this book) it makes the reader wonder about the degree of fact-checking that went into the rest of the text. His humor was enjoyed by some of the other reviewers, I found it irritating. That is just a matter of personal taste.

His sources for western sword work were voluminous and I would love to have access to the same rich fount of information. The problem with his sources came when he broadened out to Eastern arts. To cite Gilbey's "Secret fighting arts of the world" seriously is hysterical - the book is a deliberate joke. Likewise, Bruce Tenger's martial books have been around for a long time, but there are many other sources available regarding the points and techniques of unarmed Eastern martial arts.

"The Secret History of the Sword" is a nice introduction to the history of bladed combat in the West, but serious students should look further.