Why We Fight: One Man’s Search for Meaning Inside the Ring – A Pacifist Philosopher's Journey into Violence and Fear Through Martial Arts - Couverture rigide

Rosenblatt, Josh

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0062569988 ISBN 13 : 9780062569981

Editeur : Ecco, 2019

Synopsis

Shortlisted for the William
Saroyan International Prize for Writing

A physical and philosophical mediation on why we are drawn to fight each other for sport, what happens to our bodies and brains when we do, and what it all means

Anyone with guts or madness in him can get hit by someone who knows how; it takes a different kind of madness, a more persistent kind, to stick around long enough to be one of the people who does the knowing.

Josh Rosenblatt was thirty-three years old when he first realized he wanted to fight. A lifelong pacifist with a philosopher’s hatred of violence and a dandy’s aversion to exercise, he drank to excess, smoked passionately, ate indifferently, and mocked physical activity that didn’t involve nudity. But deep down inside there was always some part of him that was attracted to the idea of fighting. So, after studying Muay Thai, Krav Maga, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and boxing, he decided, at age forty, that it was finally time to fight his first—and only—mixed martial arts match: all in the name of experience and transcending ancient fears.

An insightful and moving rumination on the nature of fighting, Why We Fight takes us on his journey from the bleachers to the ring. Using his own training as an opportunity to understand how the sport illuminates basic human impulses, Rosenblatt weaves together cultural history, criticism, biology, and anthropology to understand what happens to the human body and mind when under attack, and to explore why he, a self-described “cowardly boy from the suburbs,” discovered so much meaning in putting his body, and others’, at risk.

From the psychology of fear to the physiology of pain, from Ukrainian shtetls to Brooklyn boxing gyms, from Lord Byron to George Plimpton, Why We Fight is a fierce inquiry into the abiding appeal of our most conflicted and controversial fixation, interwoven with a firsthand account of what happens when a mild-mannered intellectual decides to step into the ring for his first real showdown. 

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Josh Rosenblatt is a writer and journalist whose work has appeared in VICE, the Texas Observer, and the Austin Chronicle. Between 2012 and 2014 he was the editor-in-chief of Fightland, VICE Media’s mixed martial arts publication. Josh lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Katchen.

À propos de la quatrième de couverture

“Anyone with guts or madness in him can get hit by someone who knows how; it takes a different kind of madness, a more persistent kind, to stick around long enough to be one of the people who does the knowing.”

Josh Rosenblatt was thirty-three years old when he first realized he wanted to fight. A lifelong pacifist with a philosopher’s hatred of violence and a dandy’s aversion to exercise, he drank to excess, smoked passionately, ate indifferently, and mocked any physical activity that didn’t involve nudity. But deep down there was always a part of him that was dying to know what it was like to hit and get hit, to harm and be harmed. He sensed that to fight would be to live life deeply. So, after studying Muay Thai, Krav Maga, Brazilian jiujitsu, and boxing for nearly a decade, he finally decided, at age forty, that it was time to fight a mixed martial arts match: all in the name of experience and transcending ancient fears.

An insightful and moving rumination on the nature of fighting, Why We Fight takes us on Rosenblatt’s journey from the bleachers to the ring. Using his own training as an opportunity to understand how the sport illuminates basic human impulses, Rosenblatt weaves together cultural history, criticism, biology, and anthropology to understand what happens to the human body and mind when under attack, and to explore why he, a self-described cowardly boy from the suburbs, discovered so much meaning in putting his body, and others’, at risk.

From the psychology of fear to the physiology of pain, from Ukrainian shtetls to Brooklyn boxing gyms, from Lord Byron to George Plimpton, Why We Fight is a fierce inquiry into the abiding appeal of our most conflicted and controversial fixation, interwoven with a firsthand account of what happens when a mild-mannered intellectual decides to step into the ring for his first real showdown.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Ecco
• Date d'édition: 2019
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0062569988
• ISBN 13: 9780062569981
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 224
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: HarperCollins Publishers Ireland; enquiries@harpercollins.ie; ; Mayor Street Upper 39/40; Dublin; D01 C9W8; Irlande