Now with Kung Fu Grip!

Now with Kung Fu Grip!

Author: Jared Miracle

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2016-07-13

Total Pages: 199

ISBN-13: 1476624461

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Why do so many Americans practice martial arts? How did kung fu get its own movie genre? What makes mixed martial arts so popular? This book answers these questions for the first time with historical research. At the turn of the 20th century, the United States enjoyed a time of prosperity but feared that men were becoming soft. At the same time, the Japanese government sponsored research to develop the best fighting techniques for its new empire. Before World War II, American men boxed and Japanese men practiced judo and karate. Postwar Americans began adopting Chinese, Brazilian, Filipino and other fighting styles, in the process establishing a masculine subculture based on physical and social power. The rise of Asian martial arts in America is a fascinating untold story of modern history, from the origin of karate uniforms to the first martial arts themed birthday party. The cast of characters includes circus strongmen, professional cage fighters, an award winning comic book artist, the inventors of judo, aikido and Cornflakes, and Count Juan Raphael Dante, a Chicago hairdresser and used car salesman with the "Deadliest Hands in the World." Readers will never look at taekwondo class the same way again.


Daddyhood

Daddyhood

Author: Charles Blount

Publisher: AuthorHouse

Published: 2008-02-21

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 1467825301

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In his book Daddyhood, Charles Blount, well-known author of Whatever Happened to Charlie Boy continues his journey to break the chain of abuse and neglect, which he vividly describes in the story about Charlie Boy. Mr. Blount poses the question, “What is a Daddy?” and presents in convincing argument that, though any man can become a father, it takes lots of work and something special to become a “Daddy.” The author presents his argument through the personal experience of marriage, childbirth and divorce. He also argues that even the break-up of a marriage does not have to mark the end of a family, and for the sake of one’s child, should not. In a series of simple rules, Mr. Blount shows the reader how to accomplish this for the good of your child and your own well being; good advice for anyone wanting the best for their family.


It Is What It Is: A So For Real Novel

It Is What It Is: A So For Real Novel

Author: Nikki Carter

Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp.

Published: 2012-03-01

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 075828523X

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Gia's got to face the good, the bad, and the new. . . Gia Stokes is psyched for the start of her junior year at Longfellow High. She's co-captain of the Hi-Steppers dance squad, she's back on good terms with her cousin Hope, and her best friend Ricky has achieved hottie status as the school's new first-string quarterback. Now all the girls are after him, including Valerie--Gia's co-captain--and Hope. They both want Gia's help to score a date with Ricky, but how is Gia supposed to choose between them? If that wasn't enough, she also has to deal with a new dad and an annoying fourteen-year-old stepsister. It's going to take every ounce of faith Gia has to flip this script and make her junior year one to remember. "Gia Stokes might be a Hi-Stepper, but this teen role model has both feet on the ground as she meets life's challenges with style and grace." --Melody Carlson, author of the Diary of a Teenage Girl series


Night School

Night School

Author: Mari Mancusi

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2011-01-04

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 1101478349

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After their parents' shocking revelation about their fae heritage and an attack on their lives, the McDonald twins are forced to hide out deep in the Swiss Alps at Riverdale Academy, a secret vampire slayer training facility. And with no way to contact their vampire boyfriends for rescue, they're going to have to play nice with the locals. But when Sunny starts acting strange, Rayne realizes that there's more to fear at Riverdale than getting staked by the student body-leading to a showdown in Fairyland that may cost the twins their lives.


Comics Studies Here and Now

Comics Studies Here and Now

Author: Frederick Luis Aldama

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-05-15

Total Pages: 555

ISBN-13: 1351015257

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Comics Studies Here and Now marks the arrival of comics studies scholarship that no longer feels the need to justify itself within or against other fields of study. The essays herein move us forward, some in their re-diggings into comics history and others by analyzing comics—and all its transmedial and fan-fictional offshoots—on its own terms. Comics Studies stakes the flag of our arrival—the arrival of comics studies as a full-fledged discipline that today and tomorrow excavates, examines, discusses, and analyzes all aspects that make up the resplendent planetary republic of comics. This collection of scholarly essays is a testament to the fact that comic book studies have come into their own as an academic discipline; simply and powerfully moving comic studies forward with their critical excavations and theoretical formulas based on the common sense understanding that comics add to the world as unique, transformative cultural phenomena.


Suzy's Case

Suzy's Case

Author: Andy Siegel

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2012-07-10

Total Pages: 375

ISBN-13: 145165880X

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This wild ride of a debut thriller is packed with insider details that reveal the fascinating world of a New York lawyer who’ll stop at nothing to secure justice. Introducing Tug Wyler, a dogged and irreverent New York City personal injury and medical malpractice attorney. He is as at home on the streets as he is in the courtroom, and larger than life in both places. Once you’ve met him, you won’t ever forget him. When Henry Benson, a high-profile criminal lawyer known for his unsavory clients, recruits Tug to take over a long-pending multimillion-dollar lawsuit representing a tragically brain-damaged child, his instructions are clear: get us out of it; there is no case. Yet the moment Tug meets the disabled but gallant little Suzy Williams and June, her beautiful, resourceful mother, all bets are off. With an offbeat, self-mocking style, Tug Wyler’s a far cry from your ordinary lawyer. Unswerving in his dedication to his mostly disadvantaged clients, he understands only too well how badly they need him with the system stacked against them. Tug is honest about his own shortcomings, many of them of the profoundly politically incorrect variety, and his personal catchphrase, handy in all situations, is “At least I admit it.” When his passionate commitment to Suzy’s case thrusts him into a surreal, often violent sideshow, the ensuing danger only sharpens his obsession with learning what really happened to Suzy. Blending razor-sharp intuition, intellectual toughness, and endlessly creative legal brinkmanship, Tug determinedly works his way through a maze of well-kept secrets—encountering a cast of memorably eccentric characters along the way—to get to the truth. Among the many fresh-to-the-genre pleasures of Suzy’s Case is its eye-opening portrait of the brutally tough world of medical malpractice law in New York City, an aggressive, very-big-bucks, winner-takes-all game in which lawyers relentlessly cut corners, deals—and throats. With Andy Siegel as the expert guide to his daily home turf, that largely unseen medicolegal universe, where life—and death—always have a price, you’ll experience its addictive, risk-taking reality. The result is a stunning debut as gripping as it is unexpected, as rollicking as it is compassionate, revealing Andy Siegel to be a bright new voice of remarkable energy, wit, and style.


Exploring Picard's Galaxy

Exploring Picard's Galaxy

Author: Peter W. Lee

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2018-02-13

Total Pages: 263

ISBN-13: 147666661X

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Serving as the sequel to Gene Roddenberry's original television series, Star Trek: The Next Generation pushed the boundaries of the "final frontier." At the same time, the show continued the franchise's celebrated exploration of the human experience, reflecting current social and political events. ST:TNG became immensely successful, spawning four feature films and several television spin-offs. This collection of new essays explores both the series' characters and its themes. Topics include the Federation's philosophy concerning technocracy, sexuality and biopolitics; foreign policy shifts in the Prime Directive; key characters including Jean-Luc Picard, Data, Deanna Troi, Tasha Yar; and Klingon martial arts, music, and history.


The Missing Piece

The Missing Piece

Author:

Publisher: N.M. Porterfield

Published: 2023

Total Pages: 178

ISBN-13:

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N.m. porterfield chronicles his own life through rhyme in his poetic collection The Missing Piece. See his life and growth as he artistically paints his story through poetry in this beloved collection of rhymes.


Life On A Shoestring

Life On A Shoestring

Author: Scott Chisman

Publisher:

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13:

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What am I going to do in life? What am I supposed to do? How can I decide what to do when everything looks like a sham? What is this American Dream? Are we not all living our lives on a shoestring? By the time I completed this book I realized the nature of my problem. I rearranged my work to look like an eighteen-hole golf course, and I saw the light. I realized that I was a guitar player living in a golfer's world. We don't understand our leaders because they are golfers, and they are living on a golf course. They don't understand us because we are living on a shoestring. I realized that I was just shooting a bad round. I reformatted my work into a language that the golfer's can understand. I looked at my journey through the American Dream for the last forty years like I was playing a round of golf. As I play the course, I try to stay right in the middle of the fairway, neither hook nor a slice. I try to stay out of the sand traps and avoid the water. Unfortunately, I've had to spend some time in the woods looking for my ball. I hope this book will teach you the attitude that overcomes adversity and an attitude of hope and of humor, because we'll need it. And I hope that I find my ball. See you at the nineteenth hole!


Peace of Me

Peace of Me

Author: T.N. Williams

Publisher: Urban Books

Published: 2010-11-01

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 1599831325

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Celia Alexander assumed she had faced the ultimate test of faith when her husband, Khalil, went to prison, and she's still trying to get her life back to normal in spite of her inability to forgive him. When she discovers that her husband is somehow connected to the disappearance of a young girl in Detroit, Celia soon discovers evil has no boundaries. She revitalizes a search that may be more than she can handle. Khalil Alexander may be incarcerated, but he is far from confined. He has created an unusual business operation to feed his disturbed mind and fund his quest to be released. With a family in turmoil, their daughter, Kaleia, hides her pain like a well-worn diary. The troubled sixteen-year-old heads down a destructive path, invisible in plain sight. While mysteries unravel and truths are unveiled, Celia learns that her family's peace will depend on faith and wisdom.