Personal Defense for Women Book by Mary Conroy & Edward Ritvo (Preowned)

A vintage women’s self-defense manual offering a practical, systematic approach to personal safety, awareness, and physical defense. Written by educator Mary Conroy and psychiatrist Edward R. Ritvo, the book was designed for both individual students and instructors teaching personal-defense courses.

The manual begins with prevention—recognizing and avoiding potentially dangerous situations—and progresses into practical physical-defense techniques. Topics include kicks, strikes, blocks, releases from grabs and holds, defenses from the ground, and responses to weapons. It also addresses potentially serious situations including robbery, rape, attacks involving multiple assailants, guns, knives, and other weapons.

Beyond physical techniques, the book covers conditioning exercises, situational awareness, home and public safety, and guidance for teachers, including a twenty-lesson curriculum and lesson plans.

Illustrated throughout, this is an interesting piece of vintage self-defense literature and a useful collectible for martial arts historians, self-defense instructors, and collectors of women’s martial arts and personal-safety books.

Topics include: personal safety and awareness, striking and kicking, releases from grabs and holds, ground defense, weapon defense, conditioning, dangerous situations, and self-defense lesson planning.

Length: 80 pages

Publication date: 1973