Introduction: In the beginning -- part 1. How to think about violence: Violence is a tool ; Social aggression versus asocial violence ; Mindset matters most ; The worst people have the best information ; When violence isn't the answer -- part 2. How to think about using violence: The best target is the one you can get ; Your brain is your deadliest weapon ; Training time ; Training to inflict injury ; In the end

"In this essential new book, self-protection expert and former military intelligence officer Tim Larkin changes the way we think about violence in order to save our lives. By deconstructing our assumptions about violence--its morality, its function in modern society, how it actually works--Larkin unlocks the shackles of our own taboos and arms us with what we need to know to prevent, prepare for, and survive the unthinkable event of life-or-death violence. Through a series of harrowing true-life stories, Larkin demonstrates that violence is a tool equally effective in the hands of the "bad guy" or the "good guy"; that the person who acts first, fastest and with the full force of their body is the one who survives; and that each and every one of us is capable of being that person when our lives are at stake."--Amazon.com