You will learn more about violence in the first 100 pages of this book
than you will in decades of martial arts training. A gross oversimplification
is to summarize the book as a discussion of man's innate resistance to
killing a fellow human, the factors that can be manipulated to overcome
this resistance, and the psychological consequences of such training.
Many people's initial reaction may be that the subject matter is rather
dark and morbid, and this is exactly the author's contention. Killing
is a subject that we would rather avoid and ignore than understand, but
you can only begin to deal with the subject once you understand it. Like
the paradox in the martial arts, the book embraces violence, not in a
perverted way, but with tempered respect for it in an effort to minimize
its effects. The book is written with a tone of remorse for the killing
rather than glorification, and finds the good in people who won't kill.
Although military leaders responsible for winning a war may be distressed
by the human’s natural resistance to killing, as a race we can –
and should – view it with pride. Perhaps, then, to truly understand
the magnitude of our resistance to killing is also to understand the magnitude
of man’s inhumanity to man when he does kill.
Lt. Col. Grossman's experience as a former army Ranger, psychologist, and
historian gives him a unique, cross-disciplinary perspective, which yields
a compelling and insightful argument. His writing style is just what you
would expect from a competent army officer-clean, efficient and straight
to the point yet intelligent and articulate. He rarely if ever bogs the
book down in theory and describes things in laymen's terms, but he describes
things in laymen’s terms without dumbing the subject down. Excerpts
from other books and testimonials do well to illustrate the points and
add to the book's smooth flow, although occasionally the author reuses
the same quote one too many times.
The book is robust and covers a great deal of related topics to paint
a very thorough picture. Its basic premise is to address the problem that
has plagued the military throughout most of its history-the majority of
soldiers cannot bring themselves to kill the enemy, even when the enemy
wants to kill them. While the book is obviously focused on war, it is
concerned with the performance of the individual, which makes the book
much more pertinent to the martial arts. Indeed, one can find a host of
civilian self-defense and martial arts applications throughout: why the
fight or flight concept of self defense is not entirely accurate, the
effect of the wind of hate (the simple shock of someone wanting to harm
you), factors of killing such as group mentality, creating emotional distance
between you and the victim, how adrenaline affects judgment and behavior,
and the dynamics of atrocities. Perhaps the most important, making the
book worthwhile for this single point, is the discussion on the psychological
costs and burdens of killing.
This is a subject that is neglected in almost all self-defense courses,
despite having huge implications on the efficacy of such training. If
one truly makes an effort to apply this knowledge to self-defense and
martial arts, then a wealth of understanding can erupt: the importance
of the bow in creating empathy, strategies in de-escalation or dealing
with multiple attackers, and the mental preparation for self-defense,
including a better understanding of the opponent's actions and behaviors.
Furthermore, this information establishes guidelines to evaluate and discern
whether future martial arts/self-defense information is sound advice or
simply naïve opinion. We also see concepts discussed in the martial
arts applied to mass warfare. For example, the age old paradox that "you
must be willing to lose your life in order to save it" can also be applied
to group leaders in battle. The discussion of more remote violence such
as artillery and aerial bombings are not as immediately applicable to
martial arts except to further illustrate and support certain points.
Its implications for martial arts and self-defense training and instruction
are immense, but the book's impact is even further reaching. The discussion
of psychiatric casualties makes us more understanding of the true horrors
of war, and helps us reject the glamorized media image. The book gives
you insight into some very basic, seemingly unimportant aspects of military
life that have great significance to the bigger picture. Your opinion
of violence on TV, in the media, and arcade games will change, and you
will never look at a Vietnam veteran the same way again. At the very least,
this book will force a re-evaluation and a serious self-reflection on
these and similar issues-issues that a martial artist, by the nature of
his/her hobby, should be well educated in. As one of the reviews on the
back cover states, "this important book deserves a wide readership."
A post-script to this review. Once you have read this book, watch the movie
Saving Private Ryan again. Unless you have experienced it for real,
you cannot appreciate the brilliance and realism of that movie until you
understand the theory found in this book. It is as though the script was
written as an illustration of the text. Both are masterpieces.
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