Masters of the Blade Book

If your study of martial arts requires belief in a folktale of how that art originated you won't like what you read here.

If, on the other hand, you're interested in how Chinese martial arts came to be named, classified, marketed, and distributed then there is much merit in reading this.

Lost a star because the author doesn't cite much to back up his opinions--leaving him vulnerable to criticism of simply replacing one person's folktales with his own folktales.

But it's a great read and I suspect the author's understanding of "how it really was" is much closer to the truth than various lineage folktales handed out to new students of Chinese martial arts.