I'm an avid reader of William De Lange's Famous Japanese Swordsmen books, the first two anyway, since no store is currently carrying a physical copy.
His books are centered around two "Famous Japanese Swordsmen" from differing periods in time, starting with the "Warring States Period" to the previous "Two Courts Period" and finishing up at the "Unification Period."

The problem I've seen most people suggest with these books is that
  1. He listed his books as a biography but delves deeply into the history of the swordsman's lineage.
  2. He didn't study any of the specific style's sword texts for the people.
  3. He's hard to follow.


My refutation being this: De Lange's writing style and purpose are directly stated before you start reading the first chapter. He does not intend to deify these characters nor elaborate on their impossible amounts of skill. He asks, "How could these men have come to be in these eras?"

For anyone whose read the first two, if not the third, book, what do you think about it?