100 Ways to Defend Yourself in the Street: by Émile André

mile Andr offered this definitive, stripped down version of his combative system in 1905. A manual dedicated especially to "workingmen and clerks who have to traverse the rough edges of Paris", 100 WAYS TO DEFEND YOURSELF IN THE STREET offers just that - a bare bones path to combative competence for those who just want to get home without getting stomped and robbed. As a simplified system of La Boxe Fran aise it illustrates the used of the peculiar coup du pied bas (low kick), the point kick and the chass kick. These strikes would be useless to a barefoot MMA fighter, but for a man in a solid pair of shoes - well, you need only lace on your heaviest steel toed boots and kick a heavy bag to understand what savate is really about. But smashed ankles and splintered tibias are just the beginning, as the author leads you through a system of locks, holds, strikes and gouges aimed at keeping you alive and in one piece as you make your way across the "ragged edges" of your own town.