This is the most comprehensive & authoritive text ever to be written on handcuffs & metallic restraints. Its 24 chapters are filled with several hundred photographs, & also contain over 200, clear, line drawings. Chapter I contains the most comprehensive history of restraint equipment ever to be written. Starting in 4004 BC, the author brings the reader--through line art, photographs, & artistic drawings--into the 20th Century with a very complete written & illustrated history of all types of restraints. The balance of the text shows the reader how to apply the handcuffs in a variety of situations. Other topics include the medical implications of handcuffing, hogtying, & the use of thumbcuffs. There is also a chapter on the transportation of prisoners. At 304 pages, the bibliography is one of the best ever to be compiled on restraints. It is more like an encyclopedia than a "how-to" text on handcuffing. This text contains everything a police officer, defensive tactics instructor, lawyer, or general reader needs to know about handcuffs & their application. Criminal justice professors & students will find the book an excellent resource, too.