Martial History Team

 Here are highlights from some of the martial arts books I surveyed in August 2023. Boxing: A Cultural History, Kasia Boddy, 2009 Boxing: A Cultural History is an impressive work that uses history to tell a cultural story. Here are a few excerpts: "Prefiguring the boasts of Muhammad Ali, Epeios[, semi-mythical (?) Greek soldier of the Trojan War,} claims the prize before any competitor has even stepped forward:  I say I am the greatest...  It will certainly be done as I say -- I will smash right through the man’s skin and shatter his bones.  And his friends had better gather here ready for his funeral, to carry him away when my fists have broken him." "Justified boastfulness also features in the Odyssey (c. 725 BC). In book eight, the Phaeacians seek to impress the travel-weary Odysseus with a display of their athletic prowess. All goes well until Laodamas, son of the prince and a champion boxer, urges their guest to participate, telling him,  ‘there is no greater glory