American Shaolin - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook American Shaolin write by Matthew Polly. This book was released on 2007-02-01. American Shaolin available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Bill Bryson meets Bruce Lee in this raucously funny story of one scrawny American’s quest to become a kung fu master at China’s legendary Shaolin Temple. Growing up a ninety-pound weakling tormented by bullies in the schoolyards of Kansas, young Matthew Polly dreamed of one day journeying to the Shaolin Temple in China to become the toughest fighter in the world, like Caine in his favorite 1970s TV series, Kung Fu. While in college, Matthew decided the time had come to pursue this quixotic dream before it was too late. Much to the dismay of his parents, he dropped out of Princeton to spend two years training with the legendary sect of monks who invented kung fu and Zen Buddhism. Expecting to find an isolated citadel populated by supernatural ascetics that he’d seen in countless badly dubbed chop-socky flicks, Matthew instead discovered a tacky tourist trap run by Communist party hacks. But the dedicated monks still trained in the rigorous age-old fighting forms—some even practicing the “iron kung fu” discipline, in which intensive training can make various body parts virtually indestructible (even the crotch). As Matthew grew in his knowledge of China and kung fu skill, he would come to represent the Temple in challenge matches and international competitions, and ultimately the monks would accept their new American initiate as close to one of their own as any Westerner had ever become. Laced with humor and illuminated by cultural insight, American Shaolin is an unforgettable coming-of-age tale of one young man’s journey into the ancient art of kung fu—and a funny and poignant portrait of a rapidly changing China.
American Shaolin
American Shaolin - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook American Shaolin write by Matthew Polly. This book was released on 2007. American Shaolin available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Laced with humor and illuminated by cultural insight, this coming-of-age tale explores one young American's quest to become a kung fu master at China's legendary Shaolin Temple. 8-page photo insert.
American Shaolin
American Shaolin - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook American Shaolin write by Matthew Polly. This book was released on 2008. American Shaolin available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Laced with humor and illuminated by cultural insight, this coming-of-age tale explores one young Americans quest to become a kung fu master at Chinas legendary Shaolin Temple. 8-page photo insert.
An American's Journey to the Shaolin Temple
An American's Journey to the Shaolin Temple - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook An American's Journey to the Shaolin Temple write by Steve DeMasco. This book was released on 2001. An American's Journey to the Shaolin Temple available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Tells the story of the author's ascension to 10th-degree Shaolin kempo black belt and his appointment as an honorary ambassador to China's legendary Shaolin Temple. Accompanying rare techniques of more than 350 photos, this book is of interest to various Shaolin enthusiasts.
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Bruce Lee write by Matthew Polly. This book was released on 2019-06-04. Bruce Lee available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. “The first noteworthy treatment of its subject—and a definitive one at that...Fascinating narrative threads proliferate” (The New York Times Book Review). The most authoritative biography—featuring dozens of rarely seen photographs—of film legend Bruce Lee, who made martial arts a global phenomenon, bridged the divide between Eastern and Western cultures, and smashed long-held stereotypes of Asians and Asian-Americans. Forty-five years after Bruce Lee’s sudden death at age thirty-two, journalist and bestselling author Matthew Polly has written the definitive account of Lee’s life. It’s also one of the only accounts; incredibly, there has never been an authoritative biography of Lee. Following a decade of research that included conducting more than one hundred interviews with Lee’s family, friends, business associates, and even the actress in whose bed Lee died, Polly has constructed a complex, humane portrait of the icon. Polly explores Lee’s early years as a child star in Hong Kong cinema; his actor father’s struggles with opium addiction and how that turned Bruce into a troublemaking teenager who was kicked out of high school and eventually sent to America to shape up; his beginnings as a martial arts teacher, eventually becoming personal instructor to movie stars like James Coburn and Steve McQueen; his struggles as an Asian-American actor in Hollywood and frustration seeing role after role he auditioned for go to a white actors in eye makeup; his eventual triumph as a leading man; his challenges juggling a sky-rocketing career with his duties as a father and husband; and his shocking end that to this day is still shrouded in mystery. Polly breaks down the myths surrounding Bruce Lee and argues that, contrary to popular belief, he was an ambitious actor who was obsessed with the martial arts—not a kung-fu guru who just so happened to make a couple of movies. This is an honest, revealing look at an impressive yet imperfect man whose personal story was even more entertaining and inspiring than any fictional role he played onscreen.
