“The First Noteworthy Treatment Of Its Subject—And A Definitive One At That…Fascinating Narrative Threads Proliferate.”
—The New York Times Book Review
Bruce Lee: A Life
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.
Bruce Lee: A Life
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.
Tapped Out
As a much younger man, I traveled to the Shaolin Temple in China and spent two years training with the monks who had invented the ancient art of kung fu. Fifteen years later, my weakness for Chinese takeout and Coors beer had taken its toll. Firmly into middle age and far removed from my past athletic triumphs, I decided to risk it all one last time. Out of shape and over the hill, I jumped headlong into the world of MMA.
In Tapped Out, I chronicle my grueling yet redeeming two-year journey through an often-misunderstood sport. From Thailand to Russia, Manhattan to Las Vegas, I studied with the best trainers across the globe, concluding with a six-month fight camp at Randy Couture’s legendary gym.
American SHaolin
Growing up a 98-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 1970’s 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 train with the legendary sect of monks who invented kung fu and Zen Buddhism.
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Well researched and readable
PRAISE FOR MATTHEW POLLY
Awesome coming of Age story
Tapped out Laughing
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Matthew Polly is the national bestselling author of American Shaolin, Tapped Out and Bruce Lee: A Life. A Princeton University graduate and Rhodes Scholar, he spent two years studying kung fu at the Shaolin Temple in Henan, China. His writing has appeared in The Washington Post, Esquire, Slate, Playboy, and The Nation. He is a fellow at Yale University and lives in New Haven, Connecticut.
Polly grew up in Topeka, Kansas to Dr. Richard Polly and Linda Nolan Polly. Dr. Richard Polly was a physician to the Dallas Cowboys and Matthew spent a significant portion of his childhood on the sidelines of the Texas Stadium. However, it was the prowess and mystique of Bruce Lee and Kwai Chang Caine—the protagonist of Matthew’s favorite 1970s series, Kung Fu—that inspired him to one day become a fighter and writer.
