Interesting. I read Silver's book years ago, they have a copy in the university library.
I found some interesting parallels with Mushashi. In the "Book of the 5 rings", Mushashi, like Silver, avers that the polearm ( forest-bill in England, Naginata in Japan ) was the best battlefield weapon, if you had room to weild it.
There's also the legendary fights between Gonusuke and Mushashi. Gonosuke was a Bo stylist, and lost the intitial match to Mushashi, who spared his life. Gonosuke, following the fine old oriental tradition of going off into the mountains and meditating, had a dream and fashioned a new, shorter weapon, the Jo. ( equivalent to the shortstaff? ) With this, he, in turn, defeated Mushashi, likewise sparing him. This was Mushashi's only defeat, as I recall. ( or is it Musashi...)
Anyhoo, I've always felt that the short staff, around 48" or so, had enormous potential as a weapon, since you can rapidly adjust distance, thrust with each end, and use poweful swinging and spinning techniques all in a constant flow.
The remarkable displays you see with the bo in MA competitions look great, but seem less so when you realize most competitors are using special lightened weapons made of aluminum or whatever, rather than a proper weapon made from rock-hard oak.
