As someone who has had formal instruction in some of the less common arts I am often asked my opinion on them. The FMA are a common source of discussion between my friends and I who are 'dead keen to take up eskrima' but as it happens not so keen to get hit with a stick. As I'm no expert on the subject I often refer people to this book if they are after a good overview of FMA in general.

So what's it all about then? Wiley has endeavoured to provide the reader with a general resource covering the history, traditions and different perspectives on the Filipino warrior arts.

This takes the form of a history, mostly in terms of conflict, of the Philippine Islands; a section on Filipino culture and beliefs; 'biographical sketches' on eighteen masters of the FMA and Wiley's grossly subjective conclusions.

History is always difficult when attempting to research what is passed down through myth and oral tradition and Wiley makes an admirable attempt within the scope of the book. Some of his premises are a little shaky however, such as the land bridge linking Indonesia and the Philippines (evidence?) and the fact that the cultural traditions of the Aeta tribe are now represented by the Luzons, the Visayas and the Mindanaos.

This is strange as the Aetas still live in the Philippines and many are instructors at the US Army jungle warfare centre but I digress. The cultural section shows Wiley to have some odd perceptions of silat (but then don't we all ;) but the typology of weapons bit is great.

Explaining to those who have never seen them the differences between types of sword etc. including good photos. Many of the other sections herein give a fascinating insight into the mind of the Filipino warrior and make for great reading. Anting-anting is discussed (usually an amulet conferring magical powers) as is the oracion (a prayer again said to give magical abilities) and the juramentado (when muslims would run amok, possibly the origin of this term if I'm not mistaken, killing non-muslims in a kind of mini-jihad).

The biographical sketches are in the main excellent and by far the best bit of the book. Most of the big names are covered i.e. Illustrisimo, Cabales, Giron, Vistacion, Sulite etc. as well as some less well knowns which are equally interesting. My big gripe with this section (and you knew there had to be one) was the ones that were missing. Ok constraints of space could be a factor but to omit Dan Inosanto and Remy Presas? Without these two men FMA would probably be still be completely obscure and yet their contribution to the arts goes unrecognised (except for numerous pictures of Dan I. throughout the book). Also notable by absence is Ciracao Canete. Despite being refered to by many of the masters featured in a kind of 'I could beat Canete' as in he is the man to beat type of way I see nothing about him or his brothers. The whole Doce Pares movement is omitted. Gripe over.

Some of these pieces are done as short bios and some as interviews. I found Antonio Illustrisimo, Ramiro Estallia, Armante Marinas and Leo Giron made the best reading. However each piece was very interesting as it gave each particular master's approach to the FMA with some excellent historical photos and there is much insight to be gained for those who are interested in this kind of thing.

The conclusions section is mostly Wiley's opinions on the naming and classification of systems (e.g. the origin of the term kali, and let's face it no-one knows) and is all preachy and irritating. However this section does give a technique from each of the featured master's systems in a kind of magazine photo shoot manner which is quite good. Just ignore the rest of it about ancient, classical and modern systems. It is unnecessary to define FMA under these terms but that's just my subjective.

Interested in FMA but don't know where to go to find out more? The book shop, and say 'Filipino Martial Culture please'. There is little in print about the FMA and you could do worse than this which is generally very good.