"We'll always have Paris," as Bogey put it -- and up until now, rumors were indeed all that could be had regarding Western stick fighting traditions. Until Nick Evangelista followed up his Art and Science of Fencing this past summer with a short but concise little paperback called Fighting with Sticks, published by Washington state-based alternative niche publisher Loompanics.

Building on his chapters on stick fighting, singlestick, la canne etc. from his Encyclopedia of the Sword, Evangelista provides a broad historic exposition on the different western (and, more generally, global) stick fighting arts. Very appropriately, he segments his descriptive chapters into Games -- which reflect the different singlestick traditions of singlestick in 19th-century Britain. Game I being the contained system described in Hughes' Tom Brown's School Days, updated to avoid the aggravating bleeding head wounds that terminated early Victorian bouts.

A second large practical chapter is based on R.G. Allanson-Winn and C. Phillipps Wolleys Broadsword and Singlestick (1920), reflecting the continental and military traditions of the singlestick as the training weapon for broadsword and saber.

To squeeze the book into the more marketable category of self defense, a quickie chapter is devoted to the use of the stick against thugs. The publisher supplied the appropriate -- yet oddly out-of-place -- drawings of grim, muscular bogey men in need of a shave and a haircut, and how you can stop them from evildoing by a quick thrust into their aviator glasses.

Other chapters deal with how you can make cheap, durable weapons yourself -- just in case your local wickerwork store does not supply singlestick hilts. (Nick uses plastic buckets made to look deceptively similar to the old basket-hilts...)

Like his previous titles, Nick Evangelista combines hands-on expertise with his personal touch of down-to-earth philosophy -- and produced a book that is very enjoyable to read. Highly recommended.