A Brief History of the Martial Arts: East Asian Fighting Styles, from Kung Fu to Ninjutsu

Jonathan Clements

Folk tales of the Shaolin Temple depict warrior monks with superhuman abilities. Today, dozens of East Asian fighting styles trace their roots back to the Buddhist brawlers of Shaolin, although any quest for the true story soon wanders into a labyrinth of forgeries, secret texts and modern retellings. T...