Search results for ""author bruce thomas""

'This belting read pulls off the nifty trick of making the kung fu legend's spiritual and combat ideas accessible' Maxim'Truly gets under the skin of this iconic figure' Film Review In the 1970s Bruce Lee emerged as the world's greatest fighting star - an accolade he has kept ever since. He battled to succeed in America in spite of the racial prejudice that denied him a starring role, eventually making films in Hong Kong that turned him into a star - the highest-paid movie star of his day. His controversial death, at the age of thirty-two when he was at the height of his powers, has given him a James-Dean style enduring appeal. In Bruce Lee - Fighting Spirit, Bruce Thomas has written a complete account not only of Lee's life and death, but of the fighting philosophy he developed (jeet kune do) which made him the greatest exponent of martial arts in modern times. In this updated edition he reassesses Lee's skills and examines the enduring impact of his legacy - on action films and martial arts today. As an icon Bruce Lee's popularity continues to grow and this book is a fitting tribute to an extraordinary man whose achievements have never been surpassed. 'An endlessly stimulating account of Lee's life and times' Loaded

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After completing his conquest of the Persian empire, Alexander the Great maneuvered his army across the Hindu Kush and into India. During his two years there, he traveled from dry frigid mountains to humid tropical lowlands and then back across one of the most punishing deserts on the planet. He fought a series of desperate battles against strange foes mounted on war-elephants, suffering wounds that nearly killed him. And when he eventually turned homeward, he brought with him specimens of a rare, magical species, a bird that could speak with a human voice. Introduced to Europe by Alexander, parrots were quickly embraced by Western culture as exotic and astonishing, full of marvelous powers, and close to the gods. Over the centuries they would become objects of veneration or figures of folly, creatures prized for their wit—or their place on the dinner table. Ultimately, they would become emblematic of the West's interaction with the world at large. Identifying a deeply rooted obsession with these beautiful and loquacious birds, Bruce Thomas Boehrer provides the first account of parrots and their impact on the Western world. Parrot Culture: Our 2500-Year-Long Fascination with the World's Most Talkative Bird traces the unusual history of parrots from their introduction in the Graeco-Roman world as items of oriental luxury, through the great age of New World exploration, to the contemporary ecological crisis of globalism. Boehrer identifies the poignant irony in the way parrots became ubiquitous as symbols and mascots, while suffering near extinction at the hands of those who desired them. Exploring their presence and meanings in the art, literature, and history of Western civilization, Parrot Culture also celebrates the beauty, intelligence, and personality of these birds, whose fate will say as much about us and the world we have created as it will about them.

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