Bruce Lee's global impact extended beyond martial arts and film, shaped by his travels and cultural exchanges across the Pacific Ocean. Daryl Joji Maeda's book "Like Water" explores Lee's cultural strands, tracing his rise to global stardom and his enduring legacy as the first Asian American superstar.

Format: Hardback
Length: 352 pages
Publication date: 16 July 2022
Publisher: New York University Press

Bruce Lee's Influence Beyond Martial Arts and Film

Bruce Lee, an Asian and Asian American icon of unimaginable stature and influence, revolutionized the martial arts by combining influences drawn from around the world. Uncommonly determined, physically gifted, and artistically brilliant, Lee rose to fame as part of a wave of transpacific globalization that bridged the nearly seven thousand miles between Hong Kong and California.

Like Water Unpacks Lee's Global Impact

Like Water, a multifaceted account of Bruce Lee's legacy, uniquely traces how movements and migrations across the Pacific Ocean structured the cultures Bruce Lee inherited, the milieu he occupied, the martial art he developed, the films he made, and the world he left behind. A unique blend of cultural history and biography, Like Water unearths the cultural strands that Lee intertwined in his rise to a new kind of global stardom. Moving from the gold rush in California and the British occupation of Hong Kong, to the Cold War and the deployment of American troops across Asia, Maeda builds depth and complexity to this larger-than-life figure. His cultural chronology of Bruce Lee reveals Lee to be both a product of his time and a harbinger of a more connected future.

Nearly Half a Century After His Tragic Death, Bruce Lee Remains an Inspiring Symbol of Innovation and Determination

Nearly half a century after his tragic death, Bruce Lee remains an inspiring symbol of innovation and determination, with an enduring legacy as the first Asian American global superstar.

Weight: 678g
Dimension: 162 x 238 x 31 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781479812868