American Combat Judo by B. J. Cosneck
Reprinted by Paladin Press, $16.00
www.paladin-press.com or 800-392-2400

reviewed by C. Allen Reed

This small volume of martial arts techniques was first published in 1959. Cosneck was a combatives instructor for the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II where he worked with the boxer Jack Dempsey. Now Paladin Press has reprinted the book.

However, this book is not for the judo player. Rather the operative term in the title is Combat. In his Preface, Cosneck makes it clear he is aiming to present a series of fighting moves that will likely cause serious injury to an attacker.

The book is broken up into several sections. The first section, titled “Disabling Blows,” shows a number of strikes and blows that can be used to disable, stun or set up an attacker for further actions against his attack. In the second section, “Holds and Locks,” the author shows a number of holds, starting with a rear choke. Then moves on to other techniques such as wrist throws and defeating grabs from behind.

Cosneck then moves on to “Breaks and Releases,” which shows breaking out of various kinds of grabs, chokes and pinning moves. The next section is “Throws and Trips.” This section does include some classic judo throws such as the shoulder throw and hip throw, but also includes how to defeat a push at the chest and how to pull a man down from the rear by grabbing his ankles.

Next comes the section on “Police Tactics.” Moves in this section include disarming an attacker with a handgun pointed at you, and defending against an attacker with a club. Other police-type techniques such as come-alongs and moving a recalcitrant subject from a chair are also included here.

There are two techniques I would not recommend learning from this section. The first is how to resuscitate an unconscious subject. Certainly our ideas of proper resuscitation have moved beyond putting a knee into the back of the unconscious subject. The second is the use of a single kick to the knee to disable a man with a knife.

The final short section is “Situations.” This is really just a list of techniques that summarize how to use what has been shown in the book.

The photographs in the book are all black and white, but clearly show how to do each move. The photos are dated in that most of them show two men in 1950's style boxing trunks and boots. There are no photo credits in the book, but I believe one of the men demonstrating the techniques is Dempsey, while the other may be Cosneck. The only problem with this is that Dempsey is a much bigger man than Cosneck. Thus, the inexperienced martial artist might presume that these moves will only work with a bigger man going against the smaller man. I can tell you from my experience of doing many of these moves myself that this is not true.

Finally, I must agree with the author that none of the moves in this book should be practiced without a proper instructor, as they are quite dangerous if done improperly or without some basic practice learning to fall and roll first.