Rating: 
Summary: A good addition to your FMA library
Review: While I wish this book had the same relentless scholarly execution as Don Draeger's work (and I can think of very few even comparable for any art) on Indonesian arts, this becomes an even more difficult book to review because this is in reality more than one book: it is a book on Wiley's theories of the development of Filipino Martial Culture and a book which documents the oral history of FMA masters he has met in the Philippines and America (which I presume helped shape his conclusions)."Filipino Martial Culture" works for me because it represents an effort to document the efforts of some well-known, some less-known, but no less significant figures in the Filipino Martial Arts community. Most students of eskrima, kali, arnis, etc. (like myself) are starved for information on the masters of the FMA. I suppose that is why I appreciate this book, because it makes the effort. While this book may be controversial for its conclusions, biases, etc. and its emphasis on some masters over others, it does attempt to tell the story of the FMA through the voices of the people themselves. It is definitely not the final word and anybody interested in exploring should seek out books by Cabiero, Canete, Draeger, Imada, Inosanto, Presas, Sulite, and others to supplement their research in Southeast Asian fighting arts.
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