Echanis was a senior instructor for the UDT-21, SEAL-2, Hand-to-Hand Combat/Special Weapons School for instructors. Echanis shows more than 30 separate techniques for disarming and controlling a knife attacker. Fully illustrated.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 2.5 / 5.0
An old classic book on knife defense by the late Michael D. Echanis.:
When I first bought this book back in 1977 I thought the techniques for the most part were a little too complex to actually work under real life combat situations. After again reading this book again in March 2010 I have not changed my original view of this book. Interestingly, the four basic principles the author emphasizes in this book are valid; however, he left out the most valuable principle of truly effective combatives. THE TECHNIQUES MUST BE SIMPLE AND EFFECTIVE TO PERFORM. I would also add two more... more info
The trilogy of DEATH..... If you ATTEMPT his methods!:
RATING: I give this trilogy of books 1.5 stars overall. 1 star for validity, 4 stars for marketing and 5 stars for Echanis service in the U.S. Army as Green Beret, may you RIP. Now back to the review. I am reviewing all three titles in Echanis's series of books. Fist Echanis system of fighting was established and based on Korean Hwarang-Do, which he developed into a somewhat hybrid military hand-to-hand combative. All his methods and techniques are based on this system in all three books.more info
The book is not bad, as far as it goes:
I've had this book since it was first published. I've always regarded it as generally sound, and after more than 35 years of martial arts experience, I haven't changed that opinion. There is a lot of real stuff in the techniques demonstrated. A great deal of it, in fact, is similar to material you will find in Medieval fighting manuals dating from 1409-1600 (ie, Fiore, Talhoffer, Marozzo, Meyer). If you think that the guys who wrote those books didn't know what they were doing, you are a fool.more info
Pretty, graceful & useless:
Mr. Echanis's untimely death & a publisher's clever advertising ploy elevated him into a folk hero. Regrettably his books, while nicely bound, are filled with techniques that would be difficult in a dojo & fatal on the street. His knowledge of hapkido & aikido are not translated into "combat" tactics & are at best highly questionable. His books have recently been touted as "too deadly to be revealed until know"; a true statement if one considers the reader's health & safety to be what's... more info
