In 1923 a former instructor in hand-to-hand fighting for the United States Marine Corps, Lieutenant K.E. Shephard wrote a series of articles on Self-Defense for The Long Beach Telegram. During that same year the boxer Jack Dempsey also wrote a series of articles on self-defense titled How to Repel a Thug. The articles are presented in this book along with commentary provided by a group of present-day subject matter experts, who discuss the pros and cons of the various techniques presented within.