Charles Nelson

Charles Nelson's School Of Self-defense: The Red and Gray Manuals

Practical Self-Defense Anyone Can Learn, Taught By a Master of Street Combat

After serving as a Marine in World War II, legendary close-quarter combatives teacher and martial arts practitioner Charles Nelson opened his own School of Self Defense in New York City. Every day, New Yorkers faced the threat of violent attacks, assaults, and muggings. Recognizing that danger, Nelson knew that average people would benefit from learning how to protect themselves. For five decades he taught practical fighting techniques for real-world situations. Nelson's famous evade-and-strike method taught evasion and avoidance first, de-escalation next, and then strategies for self-defense and striking back-when necessary.

Combining the popular "Little Red Manual" and "Little Gray Manual" booklets into a single volume, this comprehensive, illustrated book provides a complete picture of Nelson's fighting techniques. Drawing from his personal experience in unarmed, hand-to-hand combat and representing the skills he taught in person, it contains a wide variety of simple and effective martial arts moves, ranging from basic blocks and traps to advanced swivel punches and counter-strikes.

A foreword by a WWII combatives expert and fighting instructor Carl Cestari, one of Nelson's former pupils, provides a colorful backstory about "Charlie" Nelson's life and techniques. Appealing to both experienced martial arts students and beginners, this is a must-have classic for every martial artist, and self-defense students and instructors. Studying the moves in this manual could literally mean the difference between life or death.

"The volumes of letters written to Charlie by former pupils, expressing gratitude for teaching these life-saving tactics and methods, attest to the efficacy of the system." -Carl Cestari, from the Foreword