Paladin Podcast Episode 5: James Dunnigan, co-author of A Quick and Dirty Guide to War

We end September 2008 with another new episode of The Paladin Podcast, free for your listening enjoyment!

James Dunnigan is a military historian and analyst. He has given lectures to the U.S. State Department, the CIA, and the U.S. Army War College. A veteran of the U.S. Army and the Editor-in-Chief of Strategypage.com, he is the author of several books, and along with Austin Bay he co-authored A Quick and Dirty Guide to War, just released by Paladin Press.

The first three editions of A Quick and Dirty Guide to War not only provided essential tools for understanding wars and hot spots around the globe, but also delivered remarkably accurate projections on the outcomes of each conflict. This new edition provides invaluable, up-to-date analyses on today’s battlegrounds: the Global War on Terror, counterinsurgency struggles on every continent, and the latest frontier of 21st century combat: cyber war.

To listen to the interview, visit our podcast's web page at http://www.paladinpodcast.com/. If you're already using iTunes, simply click on the "Subscribe with iTunes" button at the top of the page to begin automatically receiving future episodes of The Paladin Podcast, as we release them.

To order A Quick and Dirty Guide to War and browse hundreds of other books and DVDs, visit Paladin Press at http://www.paladin-press.com/.

New from Paladin Press:The Early Jeff Cooper Collection

Now available from Paladin Press!

Now available from Paladin Press! We're honored to bring back this series of four shooting books written by Jeff Cooper in the 1950s and 1960s. They are important because they represent a wide body of knowledge that few shooters today possess and they showcase the remarkable breadth and depth of Jeff Cooper's knowledge of guns and shooting.

Each book in The Early Jeff Cooper Collection contains an exclusive new foreword by quick-draw expert Thell Reed, a young student of Cooper in the late 1950s, who offers a glimpse of what shooting was like at the time and of the influence of Jeff Cooper on him and subsequent generations of shooters. Buy the set of four books and save!

Order this title now from Paladin Press!

New from Paladin Press:Handguns Afield

Now available from Paladin Press!

When Handguns Afield was first published in 1961, hunting with a handgun was in its infancy. Surely settlers and cowboys of the 19th century would have used a handgun on wild game from time to time to fill the campfire stewpot, but as far as using a handgun for hunting as a pastime, this sport was not yet widely recognized.

Jeff Cooper expertly summarizes the various aspects of hunting with handguns in the few dozen pages of Handguns Afield. Handguns, cartridges, holsters and shooting small and large game are all thoroughly described and explained here. If the average handgun shooter follows the advice in this book – most of which is still relevant today – he will be well prepared to hunt game with a pistol.

Order this title now from Paladin Press!

New from Paladin Press:Guns of the Old West

Now available from Paladin Press!

Originally written in the 1950s, Guns of the Old West is a factual account of the guns used during, and after, one of the most romanticized and often misconstrued periods in American history. It covers a wide array of firearms, from the smallest of hideaway pistols – the Derringer – to the largest of Colt’s single-action revolvers, the more recent Mauser “broomhandle,” and the Colt 1911 auto pistol. Illustrated throughout, this book describes not only the evolution of fighting pistols and rifles during the 1800s and before, but also the men who created and used them.

Of particular interest is the chapter titled “Frontier Life Insurance” that defines the code by which men lived and fought with their pistols. It was a time when the handgun was both a defensive and offensive weapon, much more than today, when it is considered mainly for defense. The chapter on “The Long Guns” covers the development of frontier rifles, from the famous Kentucky rifle of the plains and the mountain man’s Hawken to the ever-popular Winchester lever actions.

Order this title now from Paladin Press!

New from Paladin Press:Custom Rifles

Now available from Paladin Press!

Custom Rifles was a tour de force in the world of customized rifles when it was origi­nally published in the 1950s, and it is still relevant today. The custom rifle is much more than just another shooting implement. Certainly, accuracy may be greatly improved over a particular rifle’s off-the-shelf cousins, but the main reason that people customize rifles is to take advantage of the skills of the individual gunsmith and stockmaker to produce something that fits the individual needs of the owner. In this book, noted author and rifleman Jeff Cooper explains the different designs of action, custom barrels, the best types of wood for making stocks and of course the popular calibers of ammunition in use at the time, many of which are still with us today.

Custom Rifles is more than just a book for the would-be customizer. It offers excellent information on what improves or affects the performance of a fine rifle.

Order this title now from Paladin Press!

New from Paladin Press:A Quick and Dirty Guide to War, 4th Edition

Now available from Paladin Press!

The first three editions of A Quick and Dirty Guide to War not only provided essential tools for understanding wars and hot spots around the world, they delivered remarkably accurate projections on the outcomes of each conflict. War-game simulation specialists James F. Dunnigan and Austin Bay have revised their highly regarded analyses, bringing up to date not only the many conventional conflicts around the world today but the new battlegrounds that have emerged since the previous edition was published more than a decade ago - the Global War on Terror, counterinsurgency struggles around the world and the latest frontier of modern combat: cyber war.

This fourth edition takes up where the last edition left off and analyzes the monumental events that have occurred since 1996 - September 11, the toppling of Saddam Hussein and the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq - while guiding readers through dozens of other significant developments around the globe, including the tinderbox situation with Iran and oil flow through the Persian Gulf; the final disintegration of Yugoslavia; the struggle for regional influence between Brazil, Colombia and Hugo Chavez's Venezuela; Israel's attempts to deal with a fragmented Palestine Liberation Organization; China and India's growing influence in Asia and beyond; ongoing chaos and suffering on the Horn of Africa; Russia's struggle to reassert itself on the world stage; and much more.

Dunnigan and Bay present an enormous amount of information in a series of concise, insightful briefings coupled with their shrewd projections of potential outcomes, making A Quick and Dirty Guide to War a thought-provoking reference on the face of war in the 21st century.


Order this title now from Paladin Press!

New from Paladin Press:Shooting to Live, Expanded Edition

Now available from Paladin Press!

One of the most influential combat shooting books ever published, Shooting to Live is the product of Capt. W.E. Fairbairn’s and Capt. E.A. Sykes’ practical experience with the handgun from their many close-quarters gunfights while working for the Shanghai Municipal Police in the 1930s. This expanded edition contains a new foreword by British World War II combatives expert Phil Mathews, which sheds new light on the career of E.A. Sykes – the “forgotten hero” of the Fairbairn-Sykes duo – as well as previously unpublished photos.

Hundreds of actual incidents provided the basis for Shooting to Live, the first true instruction manual on life-or-death shootouts with the pistol. In clear, concise terms, the book teaches the concepts, considerations and applications of combat pistolcraft. A foreword by Col. Rex Applegate explains how Fairbairn and Sykes introduced their groundbreaking methods into American military training circles at the height of World War II.

Order this title now from Paladin Press!

New from Paladin Press:Mastering Sambo for Mixed Martial Arts

Now available from Paladin Press!

The founders of Russian sambo sifted through all of the world's martial arts, including judo and jiujitsu, to get the most combat-effective techniques available. Each technique was carefully dissected and considered for its merits in achieving sambo's ultimate goal: to stop an armed or unarmed adversary in the least time possible.

In Mastering Sambo for Mixed Martial Arts, author Scott Sonnon traces the development of the four types of sambo (self-defense, sport-wrestling, combat sambo and Spetsnaz) and then focuses on sambo's mixed martial arts applications. Here he reveals the signature "saddle" techniques that have made him one of the most respected leg-lock coaches in the world. With 101 step-by-step moves - including entries, sweeps, passes, recounters and a host of submissions - this series is a must for all MMA competitors searching for an edge over the competition.

Sambo prides itself on fast-wrestling, with only 60 seconds of groundfighting permitted. In mixed martial arts, however, these locks only work 20 percent of the time and aren't worth sacrificing quality position. As a result, Sonnon modified traditional sambo to become a "lower-half" positional approach so that fighters could both strike and defend against strikes, maintain positional dominance and easily transition from one submission to the next in a chess-like fashion, as Brazilian Jiujitsu has become known for in the "upper-half" game. Now you too can learn these winning strategies from one of the best sambo instructors in the world.

Order this title now from Paladin Press!

Street Chin Na Video Clip Available on Paladin YouTube Channel!

People will always tell you that joint locks don't work on the street. Like most common "wisdom," it's dead wrong. In the video Street Chin Na: Joint Locking and Bone Breaking Techniques for the Street, master martial artist and self-defense expert Willie "The Bam" Johnson has distilled what he learned from his extensive study of the Chinese art of Chin Na into a program that doesn't require finesse, style, or fancy moves. It's about acquiring a limb, digit or joint and just working against it in the most painful way possible. Done in his inimitable, street-realistic style, this video teaches you what real joint locks are all about. As a bonus, this package includes the Street Combat/Chin Na Fusion program, melding his best-selling Street Combat curriculum with Chin Na into a hard-core streetfighting system that is sure to take down a determined street predator.

Massad Ayoob interviews NYPD Stakeout Squad vet Bill Allard

Anyone who has read Jim Cirillo’s Guns, Bullets, and Gunfights or Jim Cirillo’s Tales of the Stakeout Squad will be familiar with Bill Allard. Bill was a key member of the NYPD Stakeout Unit and Jim’s partner on many of the shootouts described in both books.

Massad Ayoob conducts a fascinating 40-minute interview with Bill here (podcast #010, 14 September 2008), where the police veteran discusses his hard-earned insights into gunfighting, the value of various types of firearm competition, and a revolutionary scenario-based training range for police, military, and other qualified personnel.

The Allard interview begins 20 minutes into the two-part podcast. The opening segment is an interview with the owner of Blue Trail Range in Wallingford, Connecticut. Founded in 1945, today Blue Trail is fighting a battle for its existence against a developer who claims bullets from the range are hitting his property. There’s only one problem—there’s a mountain between the range and his buildings! Paladin staff members have shot at Blue Trail in the past and can vouch for the quality of the facility and character of its owners. For more on the situation—which represents an increasingly common threat to outdoor gun ranges across the country—click here.

New from Paladin Press:Knightly Dueling

Now available from Paladin Press!

Knightly Dueling is a complete overview of the fighting arts of German chivalric dueling, on horse and on foot, during the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. Through the words and pictures of original source texts of the great German fight masters of the 14th through 16th centuries – extraordinary works that poetically preserved medieval methods of armed combat – it reveals knightly dueling for what it truly was: mortal combat over some grave matter with battlefield weaponry and armour.

Until now, no single book has encompassed and clarified the scattered existing historical information on German dueling with swords, lances, daggers, pollaxes and other weapons. Knightly Dueling shows the ruthless rea­ity of man-to-man combat of the German Kunst des Fechtens (art of fighting), providing a thorough understanding of Johannes Liechtenauer’s Roszfechten (horse fighting) and Kampffechten (duel fighting). It gives Middle High German transcriptions, as well as the first and only modern English translations, of works from various fight books by Liechtenauer’s renowned masterly interpreters, including Hanko Döbringer, Peter von Danzig, Hans Talhoffer and Andre Lignitzer. The book also presents an illustrated blow-by-blow account of a deadly duel from a German Fechtbuch (fight book); primary source information regarding specific training of noblemen for duels and the training of noble youth in the combat arts; and a unique glossary of historical German chivalric terms for arms and armour.

Lavishly illustrated with many pieces of period artwork, Knightly Dueling restores the concept of German chivalry to its rightful martial role and is a must for any serious scholar of the dynamic field of European martial arts.

Order this title now from Paladin Press!

New from Paladin Press:Surviving a School Shooting

Now available from Paladin Press!

Most books about school violence focus on anti-bullying programs and counseling; Surviving a School Shooting, by retired cop Loren Christensen, takes a hard, realistic look at teaching kids what they will need to know if a gunman walks into their school.

What was once unimaginable and rare is now, tragically, part of life, and it’s all too easy to summon that terrible image of a school surrounded by police officers, emergency vehicles and frantic parents and kids. Shootings have happened at large, urban schools and at small schools in sleepy little towns with low crime rates, because all it takes is one disturbed person to turn a seemingly safe school into a grim statistic. Unfortunately, even responsible parents who warn their kids about drunk driving and other risky behaviors commonly send their children off to school without having what may be the most important talk of all: “What would you do if someone showed up with a weapon?”

In Surviving a School Shooting, Christensen teaches parents how to work with their children – from elementary schoolers to teens – to develop an age-­appropriate plan of action that includes developing an awareness of surroundings and critical thinking skills. Within the pages of this book are ideas and techniques to teach kids how to feel safer at school; when to tell adults about rumors or threats; how to mentally rehearse a response to a shooting; and what to do when a shooting occurs: when to run and how to run; when to hide and how to hide; when to fight and how to fight. Just as a fire drill prepares a child to calmly follow a path to safety in a burning building, the information in this book will train students to begin thinking strategically, defensively and offensively in case violence erupts at their school.

Order this title now from Paladin Press!

New from Paladin Press:21st Century Knife Combat Set

Now available from Paladin Press!

If you need practical information on knife fighting in today’s violent society, look no further than the 21st Century Knife Combat Set from master martial artist Kelly S. Worden. Focusing only on what works on the street, Worden cuts through the myth and hype regarding bladed combat to give you a program you can use to get yourself out of a steel-pointed jam.

In Volume One: Unarmed Against the Blade, Worden teaches the techniques and principles necessary for taking out a knife-wielding thug when all you have to fight with is your firsts.

Volume Two: Long Blade Fighting Strategies shows you both how to use a longer knife and how to adapt those techniques to a more legal-length blade size for realistic combat.

And finally, in Volume Three: Blade Against Blade, Worden teaches the real-world blade skills every fighter should have when facing a committed attacker armed with a knife.

Violent crime in the 21st century is only getting worse: don’t leave your safety to chance. For information purposes only.

Order this title now from Paladin Press!

New from Paladin Press:Shoestring Survivalism

Now available from Paladin Press!

Shoestring Survival is a complete budget-minded blueprint for preparing for tough times. Self-reliance veteran Andy James shows you dozens of shoestring survival methods that cost little or nothing yet will tremendously advance your preparedness for any sort of large-scale emergency, from natural disasters (hurricanes, floods, epidemics) to societal eruptions (acts of terrorism, economic depression, widespread crime).

With Andy James' handy tips and tricks for low-key, low-budget survival, Shoestring Survival will show you how to:

• Take 21 simple, low-cost steps right now that will drastically improve your chances of surviving any disaster
• Acquire free stuff that lots of survivalists never think of
• Locate the best sources for inexpensive, essential supplies extra clothing, necessary tools, reliable guns and more
• Stock cheap, filling foods to feed you and your family for 30 days or longer
• Find hidden values at familiar stores and in surprising corners of the Internet
• Determine whether to stay at your home or bug out during an emergency, including how to maintain comfort and safety in a government shelter

You do not need a fully stocked cabin in the mountains or an arsenal of expensive firearms to make it through hard times. You just need the will to begin preparing today, a surprisingly small amount of money to get started and the handy information in Shoestring Survival.

Order this title now from Paladin Press!

New from Paladin Press:Bob Kasper's Individual Close Combat, Volumes 1 & 2!

Now available from Paladin Press!

After World War II, training in hand-to-hand combat stopped abruptly, as interest in the Eastern martial arts blossomed. Convinced that these close-quarter techniques, which had been forged in the streets of Shanghai, China, and tempered in the Pacific and European theaters of war, represented the true essence of individual close combat, and concerned that these skills would be lost forever, a handful of men decided to preserve this knowledge. One of these men was Bob Kasper.

A student of the late Charles Nelson, Bob Kasper wrote these two volumes of individual close-combat techniques for his students but never published them. The first volume is on principles and tactics while the second volume concentrates on stance and movement. By offering these two volumes to the public for the very first time, Paladin is not only helping to preserve the techniques designed and battle-field tested by World War II combatives pioneers - a task that Kasper dedicated much of his life to - it is also preserving the work of another close-combat legend, Bob Kasper.

Individual Close Combat contains an exclusive new foreword by Kelly McCann, who trained in combatives and knife fighting with Kasper.

Order this title now from Paladin Press!

Paladin Centerfold: Peyton Quinn on Combat Training!

This week's vintage Paladin Press catalog is of a 1991 interview with author Peyton Quinn on the various combat training programs he had spearheaded up to that point in time.

Not long after the publication of A Bouncer's Guide to Barroom Brawling, Paladin was there in 1991 to report on author Peyton Quinn's first Rocky Mountain Combat Applications Camp, the predecessor to his groundbreaking "adrenal response conditioning" training program, RMCAT (Rocky Mountain Combat Applications Training).

To view this document on your computer's pdf reader, go to the Paladin Press homepage at http://www.paladin-press.com/ and click on the Features and Extras tab. In the dropdown menu, choose "Classic Paladin Centerfolds," and when the new page opens, scroll down to the bottom to find the Peyton Quinn pdf files, highlighted in red.

New from Paladin Press:21st Century Knife Combat, Volume One

Now available from Paladin Press!

Going up against a knife fighter when all you have to defend yourself with is a pair of fists is a daunting proposition for anyone, no matter how skilled. In order to survive to fight another day, you need the techniques and principles taught by master martial artist Kelly S. Worden in 21st Century Knife Combat Volume One: Unarmed Against the Blade from Paladin Press.


In his one-of-a-kind, in-your-face style, Worden first takes you through the basics by teaching you how to deflect slashing and stabbing attacks on the high line while disrupting your opponent’s base with kicks and foot traps on the low line. He then transitions to high-speed attachment techniques that enable you to stick to your attacker so his knife has nowhere to go, putting you in a position to destroy his most vulnerable targets with lightning-fast hand strikes. In addition to showing defenses against takedown attempts and all-out thrusts with the blade, Worden also goes into redirecting your opponent’s attack using simple principles of joint manipulation, sending the knife point toward him rather than into you.

21st Century Knife Combat, Volume One is the first of a three-part video series on dealing with knife combat in today’s violent society. For information purposes only.

Order this title now from Paladin Press!

New from Paladin Press:21st Century Knife Combat, Volume Two

Now available from Paladin Press!

We all know that you just can’t carry around a machete or sword in most jurisdictions, but that doesn’t mean that the skills honed with a long blade can’t be useful for the length of knife you’re legally permitted to carry. That’s where 21st Century Knife Combat Volume Two: Long Blade Fighting Strategies from Paladin Press comes in.

World-renowned knife expert Kelly S. Worden cuts through the fantasy inherent in most long blade combat systems, teaching you realistic knife fighting techniques that will work with any length blade. Starting with classical slashing and thrusting lines, Worden continues your education by drawing hard-core applications from the basics that will have your opponent at your mercy in split seconds. From there, he shows never-before-seen tactics from the Filipino flow drill sumbrada, combining them with knife disarms and disabling combative strikes. He also teaches how to adapt these real-world knife tactics to the baton, turning what might have been a deadly technique into something less lethal.

21st Century Knife Combat, Volume Two is the second of a three-part video series on dealing with knife combat in today’s violent society. For information purposes only.

Order this title now from Paladin Press!

New from Paladin Press:21st Century Knife Combat, Volume Three

Now available from Paladin Press!

If you have to defend yourself with a blade against a skilled knife fighter, you have to know what you’re doing to get yourself home safe. Master martial artist Kelly S. Worden has been on the bleeding edge of knife combat training for decades, and in 21st Century Knife Combat Volume Three: Blade Against Blade from Paladin Press, he teaches you the real-world blade skills you need to prevail.

Starting with basic thrusting and cutting angles, Worden then transitions to reverse-grip and empty-hand applications so that you’ll be prepared for whatever happens in a violent confrontation with a knife-wielding attacker. He then focuses on flow drills that burn combat-ready movements into each motion, such as cover and slash, punyo sumbrada and hubud. Includes a special bonus section on fighting with a kerambit and dealing with a hostage situation when your attacker is armed with a blade and you’re behind the curve.

There’s nothing more serious than a knife fight, so don’t leave anything to chance: watch 21st Century Knife Combat, Volume Three. This is the third of a three-part video series on dealing with knife combat in today’s violent society. For information purposes only.

Order this title now from Paladin Press!

New from Paladin Press:Martial Cane Concepts

Now available from Paladin Press!

Using a “keep it practical” approach, veteran instructor Michael Janich has developed Martial Cane Concepts, a self-defense system specifically geared toward people with physical limitations. In other words, this unique video is not for the expert stick fighter or martial artist; it’s for the 65-year-old man or woman who may actually need to fight for his or her life against a punk prowling for an easy target.

After observing that traditional stick-fighting methods require physical training and abilities beyond the grasp of most people who carry a cane out of need, Janich came up with two uncomplicated sequences of techniques that can be applied to many different situations. This approach also makes the system perfect for the non-martial artist who’s interested in protecting him- or herself.

Martial Cane Concepts teaches a self-defense system that is simple, easily learned and easily applied by those with limited physical strength, reflexes and speed.

To round out this instruction, Janich also includes material for people with more physical attributes who choose to carry a cane as the ultimate PC weapon. There is no fancy stuff in here – no throws, flips or locks. Just solid information on choosing the best cane for your needs and then using it to strike, thrust and block to protect yourself from harm.

Order this title now from Paladin Press!

New from Paladin Press:Up Close and Personal

Now available from Paladin Press!

In a real street fight, your assailant will most likely try to force you into a clinch: that gray zone between striking and grappling distance. Punches and kicks are less effective in close quarters, and it’s easier for a determined opponent to slam you to the concrete at that range. Up Close and Personal, this explosive video production from Paladin Press by self-defense experts Richard Nance and David Hallford teaches you the best way to fight and win in the clinch, no matter how large your attacker may be.

Using principles of angle and leverage rather than brute strength, the authors take you through all types of clinches, from the collar-and-elbow tie to the Muay Thai neck clinch, so that whether you initiate the movement or find yourself in the clinch, you will know how to prevail. Nance and Hallford also cover the most effective strikes from the clinch, showing you how to set your opponent up with short elbow and knee strikes before sending him crashing to the pavement. From there, they teach both firearm and knife acquisition and retention from the clinch, in case deadly force is warranted.

Up Close and Personal is not a wrestling video: it is a self-defense program designed to teach you necessary skills for real-life combat. For information purposes only.

Order this title now from Paladin Press!

DVD Price Reduction!

With the recent Wall Street woes, subprime mortgage crisis, and the price of gasoline going through the roof, times are hard for everyone. We at Paladin Press feel your pain, and to help offset the rising cost of everything, we're dropping the prices on selected DVD titles.

The Armorer's Workshop: A Step-by-Step Guide to Making a Medieval Great Helm - $79.95 $59.95

The Armorer's Workshop Volume Two: A Step-by-Step Guide to Making Hourglass Gauntlets - $99.95 $59.95 (Buy Volumes One and Two together for $99.95, a savings of $19.95!)

Beyond Kenpo: Advancing the Art and Science of Kenpo Karate - $89.95 $59.95

Dynamic Chux: Fast and Flashy Nunchaku Techniques for Form and Demonstration - $49.95 $29.95

Fierce and Female: Practical Rape Defense Tactics for Every Woman - $59.95 $49.95

Filipino Kuntao: The Art of Jing Shen Jie Fang "Free Spirit" Fighting - $79.95 $59.95

The Fighting Footwork of Kuntao and Silat: Volume One: A Complete Guide to the Tactical Legwork of Kuntao, Silat, and Kuntao-Silat - $49.95 $39.95

The Fighting Footwork of Kuntao and Silat: Volume Two: A Complete Guide to the Tactical Legwork of Kuntao, Silat, and Kuntao-Silat - $49.95 $39.95

The Fighting Footwork of Kuntao and Silat: Volume Three: A Complete Guide to the Tactical Legwork of Kuntao, Silat, and Kuntao-Silat - $49.95 $39.95

The Fighting Footwork of Kuntao and Silat: Volume Four: A Complete Guide to the Tactical Legwork of Kuntao, Silat, and Kuntao-Silat - $49.95 $39.95 (Buy all four volumes at once for $125.00, a savings of $34.80!)

Fighting Secrets of Muay Thai: The Art and Science of Thai Kickboxing Volumes 1-3 - $89.95 $69.95

Secrets of Harimau: The Explosive Art of Pencak Silat Harimau Minangkabau - $49.95 $39.95

The Leading Edge: A Complete Guide to Tactical Edged Weapon Use - $49.95 $29.95

Living Safely in Dangerous Times: Defending Yourself and Your Family Against Terrorism - $59.95 $49.95

Martial Marksmanship: A Fighter's Guide to Close-Quarters Handgunning - $39.95 $29.95

Masters and Styles: A Comparative Analysis of Self-Defense Technique - $39.95 $19.95

Power Breaking for Sport and Self-Defense: The Ultimate Guide to Breaking Bricks, Boards, and Bones - $39.95 $29.95

Restraint and Control Strategies: State-of-the-Art Defensive Tactics for Law Enforcement and Security Professionals - $149.95 $99.95

T.A.C.S.A.F.E.: Practical Filipino Kuntao Defenses Against Firearms and Edged Weapons - $49.95 $39.95

The Ultimate Streetfighter: Kelly S. Worden's Natural Spirit: The Way of Renegade Jeet Kune Do - $79.95 $59.95

To order these and other titles from the Paladin Action Library, visit http://www.paladin-press.com/!

New from Paladin Press:Women's Street Combat

Now available from Paladin Press!

Starting with the author’s wrenching account of being raped despite her years of martial arts training, Women's Street Combat from Paladin Press takes you far beyond the typical women’s self-defense program to give you the real stuff: principles and tactics designed specifically to defeat a determined sexual predator.

Lifetime martial artist and assault survivor Kimber Johnson knows from brutal personal experience what will and won’t work against a rapist, and teaches you a series of street-realistic techniques based on what real sexual predators do to make women victims, not ­fantasy-based martial arts with no basis in reality. This includes defenses against hair-pulling, choking and being pinned, three of the most common attacks women must deal with in a life-or-death struggle; how to go to the ground on your terms, not your attacker’s, if you’re suddenly shoved from any direction; scenario-based training designed to teach you how to deal with situations ranging from dealing with a drunk at a club to recognizing the precursors of a true assault; and more.

A rape attempt is one of the most horrific assaults a woman can experience; Women's Street Combat will teach you how to prevail if you are unlucky enough to be tar­geted by a predator. For information purposes only.

Order this title now from Paladin Press!

New from Paladin Press:Street Chin Na

Now available from Paladin Press!

Award-winning martial artist and self-defense expert Willie “The Bam” Johnson takes traditional Chin Na Kung Fu and expands it far beyond its original scope, making it a true combat art suitable for real-world self-defense application.

The street predator is more skilled than he used to be, and with this brutal video production from Paladin Press, you’ll learn how to take him apart joint by joint. Johnson starts off with the Chin Na warm-up: several grueling, heart-pumping exercises designed to increase grip strength, condition your limbs to withstand incredible punishment and build overall toughness. From there, he shows you how to exploit the weak parts of the human body, not through the arcane art of pressure points and acupuncture, but using body mechanics and joint manipulation; teaches you high-level sparring drills to prepare you for that one moment where you’ll have to fight to save your life; instructs you in principles of motion that will teach you how to deal with any grab or strike your opponent might throw; and much more.

Street Chin Na: Joint Locking and Bone Breaking Techniques for the Street includes the Chin Na/Street Combat Fusion program, a bonus DVD combining his Street Chin Na and Street Combat fighting programs into a fighting system that combines street attitude and devastating technique. For information purposes only.

Order this title now from Paladin Press!

The Armourer's Workshop Volumes 1 and 2 Now Available as a King-Sized Set with King-Sized Savings!

Now you can purchase both volumes of The Armourer's Workshop as a set and enjoy king-sized savings!

Learn the lost art of making armor from Peter Fuller, one of the few modern masters of the craft.

Volume 1 covers every step of creating a medieval great helm in meticulous detail, including cutting the pieces, shaping, riveting, polishing, and much, much more. The skills taught in this video will not only enable you to make your own historically accurate, battle-worthy helmet, they represent a comprehensive apprenticeship in the armorer's craft.

In Volume 2, Fuller builds on the skills he imparted in the first volume, taking you step-by-step through the creation of the smaller, more detailed pieces that make up a pair of hourglass gauntlets. He teaches you how to weld and sand individual pieces into a strong assembly, anneal and shape brass to make it easy to work, chase fine lines into your piece for historical accuracy and polish even the smallest pieces of steel to a mirror finish consistent with the appearance of 16th century armor. Includes full-scale patterns for the gauntlets and specialized armor-making tools, including the fluting tool.

Whether you're interested in the authentic re-creation of medieval armor from days of yore, or you're simply curious about the difference between a gauntlet and a gorget, The Armourer's Workshop DVD Set from Paladin Press brings you the inside story - that's 375 minutes/four DVDs of fascinating armor-making programming for just $99.95!

Mob Mentality: An Interview with Riot Prevention and Control Author Capt. Charles Beene

Paladin Press author and Retired San Francisco Police Department Captain Charles Beene has had a long and varied career. He served as a beat cop and K9 officer, developed special motorcycle and street decoy units, and participated in hundreds of crowd-control events, from responding to the dozens of street protests that occurred in San Francisco every year to commanding the entire crowd-control function during the 1984 Democratic National Convention. His knowledge of crowd control formed the basis of his latest book, Riot Prevention and Control, where he provides a fascinating tutorial in the art of policing gatherings of from a half-dozen to hundreds of thousands of citizens in the streets.

We spoke with Capt. Beene earlier this year about his colorful career and the concepts presented in his book:

PALADIN PRESS: What causes a seemingly peaceful crowd to start a riot?
CHARLES BEENE: One of the biggest considerations—and a relatively recent phenomenon—is the technology of television mini-cams and personal camera recorders. Many leaders or protesters know they must do something to get the attention of the media. Either single or in groups, people can use crowds to gain their 15 seconds of fame or show their cause to the world. Mix in alcohol, a hatred of police, excitement, “importance of their cause,” out-of-control horseplay, false rumors, and perceived unfair police action. Anonymity plays a big role for the bottle or rock thrower. It also presents a diversion for criminal activities.

PP: When you were planning for the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, a newspaper article quoted you as saying: “The fact is that terrorism is theater more than anything else. Put that together with the 12,000 media we will have here and you can see the potential.” Is that still true today, or has terrorism evolved past theater?
CB: I believe that terrorism is theater today just as it always has been. There is not one of these groups that would last a New York minute against the power of the U.S. in a “regular” standup war. They feel they must use another method to gain support for their cause. They may blow up a church containing women and children. The more media attention, even if people cannot believe it is “right,” the more attention (or fear) the terrorists receive. Shock value, a show of their cause, “theater” gets results.

PP: You acted as a decoy in the Street Crimes Unit. Aren’t those tactics considered entrapment by defense attorneys?
CB: Entrapment occurs when law-enforcement officers encourage another to commit a crime with the intent of arresting and prosecuting that person for the commission of that crime. A few defense lawyers brought up the issue in our decoy arrests in court or in the media, but they never proved entrapment in even one case out of the thousands that we had arrested. We did not encourage anyone to steal the property.

PP: You were a police officer in San Francisco when the SFPD was faced with two high-profile but entirely different law-enforcement challenges: the massive influx of youth to the Haight District during “The Summer of Love” in 1967, and the hunt for the Zodiac serial killer throughout the 1960s and ’70s. Tell us about your involvement in those two episodes.
CB: Haight District “Summer of Love.” I was still in the Police Dog Unit in 1967, so I didn’t become involved with the hippies much, as we had a rule not to use the dogs against people as the police had in the South. We only used the dogs to search buildings for burglars and other serious felonies. By the time I was promoted to sergeant and assigned to Park (Haight Street) Station, it was in late 1968, and the “love movement,” where anything went, was pretty much over. Even the flower children realized they must have housing, food, health care, and protection.

In working the Park Police Station counter, where hundreds of parents came looking for their runaway children, I did note an almost evenly divided attitude about child psychology. The parents couldn’t understand why their child had run away from home. Half the parents would explain how they had “beat the crap out of the child every day to make them mind.” The other half couldn’t understand why they would run away when they “had no rules and allowed the child to have anything they wanted.”

I still get an eerie feeling about my short assignment at Park Station. In 1969, an opening came up for sergeant in the Dog Unit and I was back in that Unit. I had been the Supervising Sergeant at Park Station. About six months after I returned to the Dog Unit, my replacement supervising sergeant there was murdered. It was around 11 P.M., and he was standing in the doorway of the station business office, talking with the secretary and the Station Keeper, preparing to fill out his Supervising Sergeant’s Report. He was following the same routine I had used every night. Someone had planted heavy explosives just under the station window. They packed sandbags around the explosive charge so the projectiles, large construction staples, would go into the station with full force ...

To read the rest of this interview, please visit the Paladin Press website by clicking here and opening the "Author Interviews" section of the Features & Extras tab, located on our homepage.

Lawyers, Guns and Money: Close-range Rifle Shooting with Military Style Rifles

The following article on close-range rifle shooting with military-style rifles was posted recently on John McClane's Lawyers, Guns and Money blog. Shooting enthusiasts of all stripes are encouraged to check out McClane's frequently-updated blog.

Many people think of rifles as long-distance, precision weapons. While this is true, depending on what your idea is of long distance, there are times when rifles and carbines are used at very close distances, but the shooter is still required to make a precision shot. For example, a soldier or a police officer who is engaged in clearing a house or shooting a hostage taker may have to shoot better than just center of mass. In these close-up and personal encounters, the requirement is for the shooter to make a head shot on the shootee into the area covered by a pair of glasses. Even at ranges of say, 10 yards or less, this does not leave much room for error. In the case of many modern military-style rifles, the design actually makes the task of accurately hitting a small area at close distances harder.

Take, for example, an AR-15 or AK platform. If you look at the distance between the centerline of the bore and the tip of the front sight, or, if it’s fitted with optics instead of iron sights, the distance between the centerline of the bore and the centerline of the scope tube, you will see the distance is roughly 2 1/2 inches. If you were to stand on the range right in front of a paper target, with the muzzle about 2 feet away from the paper, and sight in on the x-ring, your shot would hit the paper about 2 1/2 inches below the x-ring.

A soldier in Iraq, crouched close behind a concrete parapet, who has to make a shot into a terrorist would have to lift his rifle up high enough to see Hajji through the sights, but he may not be aware that his muzzle has not cleared the concrete a few inches away. This is a bad thing. When he shoots, the bullet will impact the concrete, even though he has a good sight picture on his target.

It gets worse. Let’s say that a police officer is called to a hostage situation. The bad guy has taken a woman hostage. He’s standing behind her, and he’s holding a butcher knife to her throat. The generally accepted approach to this problem is to make a shot to the bad guy’s brainstem (OK, we’re assuming that he has one) and thereby instantaneously deactivate his central nervous system before he can cut his hostage. The cop is standing just a few feet from the bad guy. His AR-15 is pointed right at the bridge of the bad guy’s nose, but the muzzle (and the point of impact of the bullet) is actually aimed about 2 1/2 inches lower. Sure, the shot will likely kill the bad guy, but possibly not before he knifes the hostage.

So the solution is to aim a couple of inches higher on the target. This works fine with electronic red-dot scopes. With traditional iron sights, be aware that the sight itself will obscure the point of impact from the shooter.

In both scenarios, the bullet will impact below the point of aim when the muzzle is closer than about 10 to 15 yards from the target. At longer distances, normal sighting applies and the point of impact will be determined by how the rifle is sighted in. However, it should be noted that as the distance to the target increases, the chances of making a precision shot decrease. For more on the analysis of target systems for practical training in defensive shooting, check out Louis Awerbuck's book Hit or Myth.

21st Century Knife Combat Volume Two Clip on Paladin YouTube Channel!

Here's a preview of the upcoming Paladin video 21st Century Knife Combat Volume Two: Long Blade Fighting Strategies by Kelly S. Worden.

This volume of the three-video 21st Century Knife Combat series focuses on fighting with longer weapons such as machetes, swords, and even the collapsible baton. From there, Worden takes the movements and techniques taught with the long blade and shows you how you can use them with shorter knives that are more legally acceptable to carry on a daily basis. Available soon from the Paladin Action Library!

Information on Volume One available here.

Paladin Extra: Marc "Animal" MacYoung Speaks Out!

In this week's Paladin Press "Extras," we're revisiting a classic interview with author Marc "Animal" MacYoung.

In this 1991 interview (originally published as the centerfold section of the Paladin press catalog) MacYoung, whose Paladin books include Down But Not Out, Safe in the Street, Fists, Wits and a Wicked Right, and Safe in the City, covers his popular early books, his views on traditional martial arts, and his favorite fellow self-defense authors.

To view this document on your computer's pdf reader, go to the Paladin Press homepage at http://www.paladin-press.com/ and click on the Features and Extras tab. In the dropdown menu, choose "Classic Paladin Centerfolds," and when the new page opens, scroll down to the bottom to find the MacYoung pdf files, highlighted in red.

A piece of Jeff Cooper history

We came across an interesting piece of Paladin publishing history in the files recently: the original cover letter from Jeff Cooper when he submitted the first draft of Principles of Personal Defense to Paladin in 1972. It was sent to Bob Brown—this was two years before Bob left Paladin to form Soldier of Fortune magazine. The book with iconic white cover debuted in 1972. Later editions were released in 1989 (the red cover) and 2007 (the current blue cover).

We especially like the comment, “It is possible that this little booklet may have a market appeal rather greater than we expect.” Thirty-six years and three editions later, we’d have to agree.

The Big Bear Lake letterhead is also historically significant. The California location was where Cooper, along with his cohorts in the Bear Valley Gunslingers and Southwest Combat Pistol League, worked out concepts in the 1950s and 1960s that the Colonel would later formulate into the Modern Technique of the Pistol.

Paladin has a trove of new Jeff Cooper material for anyone interested in his expertise on firearms. For those in search of classic historical material, keep an eye on Paladin’s main website and our Lawyers, Guns, and Money blog for the latest word on a slate of Cooper reprints coming out in October 2008: Custom Rifles, Fighting Handguns, Guns of the Old West, and Handguns Afield. Each will contain an exclusive foreword by Thell Reed, one of the original members of the Southwest Combat Pistol League. Sales of these books will benefit the Jeff Cooper Legacy Foundation.

For those seeking personal shooting lessons from the Colonel, you can do no better than Jeff Cooper’s Defensive Pistolcraft video series. This four-volume DVD set features Cooper in his prime in 1986 providing instruction in defensive pistol handling, readiness, marksmanship, mindset, and other vital matters.

Up Close and Personal Video Clip on Paladin Press YouTube Channel!

This week's Paladin YouTube clip is from the upcoming video Up Close and Personal: A Street-Smart Guide to Fighting from the Clinch by Richard Nance and David Hallford. In a real street fight, most fighters, especially the untrained ones, will try to get into a clinch with you to put you on the ground so they can stomp and kick you into oblivion. And while a lot of self-defense and grappling videos touch on this subject, none of them address this real-world likelihood with this effectiveness and attention to detail. The average brawler isn't likely going to stand there toe-to-toe and try to duke it out with you punch for punch, so why train for that? Go with what works and train for the situations you're most likely to face.

Paladin Extra: The Unconventional World of Scott French!

This week's vintage Paladin catalog centerfold is a 1989 interview with author Scott French, whose Paladin Press title Who Are You? continues to be a staple in the literature of personal identity.

French also produced the classic Paladin Press video production B and E: A to Z, Volume 1 and Volume 2, among others.

To view the centerfold scan on your computer's pdf reader, go to the Paladin Press homepage at http://www.paladin-press.com/, click on the Features and Extras tab, and choose "Classic Paladin Centerfolds" in the menu. When the new page opens, scroll down to find the Scott French files, highlighted in red.

Paladin Podcast Episode #4: Ted Murray on Football Betting!

To kick off the 2008 football season, The Paladin Podcast proudly presents a rollicking interview with Ted Murray, author of the new Paladin Press title, The Inside Scoop on Football Betting.

Ted is a veteran analyst of the sports gambling industry who has worked as a football handicapper. Raised in a sports-minded family, Murray came to the realization the summer before his sophomore year in high school that his limited athletic abilities were only going to take him so far and that the only way to feed his great passion for athletics was through gambling. Betting on football not only kept him interested but allowed him to continue to be an “active participant” in the games. He has continued his football-betting studies for nearly 30 years.

To listen to the interview, visit our podcast's web page at www.paladinpodcast.com. If you're already using iTunes, simply click on the "Subscribe with iTunes" button at the top of the page to begin automatically receiving future episodes of The Paladin Podcast, as we release them.

To order The Inside Scoop on Football Betting by Ted Murray, as well as browse over 900 one-of-a-kind books and DVDs, visit Paladin Press on the web at www.paladin-press.com.

Unconventional Wisdom

There’s an old saying that you can’t avoid death and taxes. Right up there with those two unavoidable horrors is the four-year circus known as the United States presidential campaign. Each candidate’s every move is captured by multiple news networks 24/7 creating an orgy of non-news. First the candidate is shown rolling up his sleeves and shaking hands with a construction worker; then each network brings on a pseudojournalist pundit to analyze the handshake and put it into global perspective; then . . . well, you know the drill. And we have two more unbearable months of this?

If you’re asking yourself how you’ll possibly keep your sanity in the face of this overwhelming onslaught of sound bites, there is a light at the end of the election tunnel. Claire Wolfe’s Think Free to Live Free: A Political Burnout’s Guide to Life, Activism, and Everything is a breath of fresh air. Reading this workbook will help you regain your enthusiasm for the political process and energize your quest for a contented and purposeful life.

Women's Street Combat Video Clip on Paladin YouTube Channel!

Here's a sneak peek at an upcoming video from Kimber Johnson titled Women's Street Combat: Predator Defense and Rape Prevention.

The author, Kimber Johnson, knows from painful personal experience what it's like to be assaulted, and teaches you how to overcome a determined sexual predator in this video. It's full of hard-core, real-world self-defense techniques that are specifically designed to target your attacker's weak spots: don't try to get into a strength vs. strength contest with an attacker, go all-out and put him on the defense. No fancy throws, locks, or complicated techniques here, just down and dirty street fighting from someone who knows what works and what won't.