This is an updated and more comprehensive version of Massad Ayoob's In the Gravest Extreme. This book is excellent in that it really tries to dispel the myths many people have about self-defense. Expanding on Ayoob's book, In Self Defense gives a realistic look at self-defense from both practical and legal angles. The author aims to educate people and clarifies issues in the use of deadly force while addressing the psychological mindset of dangerous criminals and the mental awareness and preparation one must attain in order to defend oneself from violent crime.
Here is practical information for selecting firearms and using them for home defense: how to determine the reliability of weapons, safety devices for handguns, the proper and legal methods of transporting weapons, and holster selection. There's a whole chapter on defense cartridge selection, including shotgun and handgun loads for self-defense and why factory-loaded ammunition is important. Discusses the use of dogs for home security, as well as tactical material on dealing with attackers, the use of cover and concealment, returning fire from barricaded positions, and why not to even attempt a housecleaning if you suspect intruders. Includes material on proper verbal commands, the proper method of holding a criminal at gunpoint, and why a warning shot is not a good idea. There is a good discussion on the mental trauma that can occur during and after armed conflict, including definitions of these types of traumas. The book tells how to properly call the police and how to effectively interface with responding law enforcement.
There is a good amount of information concerning the legal aspects of self-defense, and how complicated things can become after a shooting. Includes practical and common- sense advice on understanding the mantle of confidentiality, what to do if the police throw you in jail for defending yourself, what information should be conveyed on your phone call, and how to deal with criminal and civil lawsuits resulting from a deadly-force encounter. Advises on how to find attorneys who are experienced in self-defense cases. MC

Publisher: Police Bookshelf
Paperback: 105 pages
Illustrated

Discover the difference between the reality of personal protection and dangerous fantasy. This book covers the use of the firearm in personal protection, dealing with legal, ethical, and practical considerations. It was written to provide practical advice and remove many misconceptions by trying to define what self-defense really means, and what conditions actually let someone apply lethal force legally. Ayoob dispels the myth of citizen's arrest, and explains how and when firearms can be used in stores, homes, cars and on the street. Here is common sense information on the deterrent effect of defensive handguns, gun safety and tactical techniques for defense shooting. The book examines what can happen legally, physically and psychologically in the aftermath of a shooting and what to be prepared for even in a case of justified self-defense. MC

Publisher: Police Bookshelf
Paperback: 131 pages
Illustrated

This how-to manual on interrogation includes the history and mythology of interrogation, the basics of effective interrogation, psychological factors and even an interrogator's ideal qualities. Discusses how to read tone of voice and body language, which can indicate lying, how to find the correct setting for an interrogation, and ways to establish rapport with a subject. Looks at confessions and cross examinations the way they really happen, the uses of deception in obtaining confessions, and getting around Miranda warnings. Covers technological aids to interrogation including both lie detectors and voice-stress analyzers—what they can and can't do and how they are actually used—as well as drugs and brainwashing. Includes the tools of the Gestapo and secret police, types of torture instruments, who makes a good torturer, and tactics for trying to survive torture. MC

Publisher: Loompanics
Paperback: 230 pages

The definitive article on how to stab, hit, gouge, shoot, kill, maim or otherwise disable an opponent, with the fundamental principles explained with clear photographic examples. Written in the 1940s for the Combat Section of the Military Intelligence Training Center, this classic text has been often imitated but never bettered. Includes a section on civil disturbances and their control. BW

Publisher: Paladin
Hardback: 421 pages
Illustrated

The title alludes to the assassin’s proper frame of mind, an emphatic blank, swaggerfree and beyond the concept of mercy. In these pages the gun becomes a mere fetish object, a sentimental icon of death, while the true and artful instruments of murder are apparent in a breathtakingly comprehensive array: Place a paper bag of dry ice under a person’s bed in a closed room and they’re dead the next day of carbon monoxide poisoning, the weapon evaporated. Stuff a tennis ball into another person’s mouth, and they’re asphyxiated, unable to summon the jaw strength to spit it out. Strangle someone with an industrial garbage-bag tie, called a Flex Cuff™, which is the same plastic handcuff cops use and available in neck size at automotive shops, etc. HJ

Publisher: Paladin
Paperback: 495 pages
Illustrated

Described by the author as an “exercise in speculative geography,” The Last Frontiers on Earth is also an examination of the lengths one might go to avoid paying rent and taxes. Hard-to-find possible homesteading sites are outlined: from the truly heroic, such as establishing a residence on a floating iceberg in the polar ice caps to the more prosaic, such as becoming a “bicycle nomad.” Discusses the pros and cons, for example, in the case of an underwater habitat: “There are some offsetting advantages of underwater living. It has been found that in a pressurized undersea habitat small cuts heal fully in 24 hours instead of a week. Beards hardly grow at all. There are no insect pests to bother with, and bad weather passes unnoticed above while conditions remain calm and serene in the depths.” SS

Publisher: Loompanics
Paperback: 125 pages
Illustrated

This is a well-photographed book with a practical approach, which details knife-fighting grips and stances, body targets, blocks and counters. Illustrates serial attacks, grappling and sentry kills, and discusses the value of knives versus bayonets, and the use of deadly entrenching tools. Includes a short chapter on basic throwing as well as training hints. MC

Publisher: Universal Force Dynamics
Paperback: 123 pages
Illustrated

“Exposes the 'science' of lie detection and shows how screening tests can be influenced by mechanical tricks, drugs, practice and knowledge. The FBI, IRS, CIA, job-screening firms, detectives and others use the polygraph, graphology, drug-screening tests, and kinesic interviewing. Do they really work? Will you lose a job, get fined or even go to jail because of a false positive on a shaky system? Learn how these systems work and how to manipulate the tests and testers to mislead anyone, anytime—and get away with it.” GR

Publisher: Paladin
Paperback: 168 pages
Illustrated

A “jailhouse lawyer” reads you your rights: “Law books are too dry and technical for most people to read, and that is why the average citizen never really learns what his rights are. It fits right into the plans of those captains of the System, the cops and the lawyers, because with citizens in the dark, they can do pretty much what they please without recriminations. This book aims to put a stop to that situation by laying out in plain English an up-to-date overview of the citizen’s legal rights against police activity.” Comes with its own Outlaw Ten Commandments, such as “Don’t Consent” and “Don’t Attract Attention.”

Publisher: Loompanics
Paperback: 336 pages

Brief but thoughtful histories of the use and manufacture of pens, ink and paper begin this interestingly documented volume. Closeup photographs depict drips made from a vat-man's hands which fell on a freshly handmade piece of paper; and illustrate the distinction between two sides of a piece of parchment (one side is yellow with hair follicles evident, the other side smoother and whiter). A photograph of handwriting from 1843, which reveals the point in the text that the writer mended his quill, shows just how close a study can be made of the written word. The evidence uncovered might solve a mystery or merely bring the past to life.
The goal of this book is to illuminate subtle clues and to encourage detailed observation. A teacher at the University of Kentucky, Nickell is also a calligrapher who belongs to the International Association of Master Penmen, Engrossers and Teachers of Handwriting. Here he offers his knowledge in detecting forgeries, identifying watermarks and dating documents, as well as in penmanship, stationery, and postal iconography. He assiduously presents photographs of rare manuscripts and antique instruments to verify his observations.The book contains a wealth of information for sleuths and scholars alike who seek knowledge of the history and use of handwritten text. In this day when computers have nearly eliminated handwritten evidence of error, and therefore thought, this document reminds us of what we will miss in the future. JTW

Publisher: University of Kentucky
Hardback: 228 pages
Illustrated