A Killing Art

A Killing Art
Author: Gillis, Alex
Publisher: ECW Press
Total Pages: 362
Release: 2016-08-01
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1770906959

The eagerly anticipated updated return of a bestselling martial arts classic The leaders of Tae Kwon Do, an Olympic sport and one of the worldÍs most popular martial arts, are fond of saying that their art is ancient and filled with old dynasties and superhuman feats. In fact, Tae Kwon Do is as full of lies as it is powerful techniques. Since its rough beginnings in the Korean military 60 years ago, the art empowered individuals and nations, but its leaders too often hid the painful truths that led to that empowerment „ the gangsters, secret-service agents, and dictators who encouraged cheating, corruption, and murder. A Killing Art: The Untold History of Tae Kwon Do takes you into the cults, geisha houses, and crime syndicates that made Tae Kwon Do. It shows how, in the end, a few key leaders kept the art clean and turned it into an empowering art for tens of millions of people in more than 150 countries. A Killing Art is part history and part biography „ and a wild ride to enlightenment. This new and revised edition of the bestselling book contains previously unnamed sources and updated chapters.

The Art of Killing Well

The Art of Killing Well
Author: Marco Malvaldi
Publisher: Hachette UK
Total Pages: 184
Release: 2014-06-05
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1782067795

Nothing could please a chef more than a chance to learn the secrets of a Baron's castle kitchen. Having travelled the length and breadth of the country compiling his masterpiece, The Science of Cooking and The Art of Eating Well, Pellegrino Artusi relishes the prospect of a few quiet days and a boar hunt in the Tuscan hills. But his peace is short-lived. A body is found in the castle cellar, and the local inspector finds himself baffled by an eccentric array of aristocratic suspects. When the baron himself becomes the target of a second murder attempt, Artusi realises he may need to follow his infallible nose to help find the culprit. Marco Malvaldi serves up an irresistible dish spiced with mischief and intrigue, and sweetened with classical elegance and wit. His stroke of genius is to bring Italy's first cookery writer to life in this most entertaining of murder mysteries.

The Killing Art

The Killing Art
Author: Jonathan Santlofer
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 418
Release: 2009-10-13
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0061746193

History and fiction collide with deadly consequences in the third Kate McKinnon novel—a story of bitter revenge, where the past invades the present and a decades-old secret proves fatal Kate McKinnon has lived many lives, from Queens cop to Manhattan socialite, television art historian, and the woman who helped the NYPD capture the Death Artist and the Color Blind killer. But that's the past. Now, devastated by the death of her husband, Kate is attempting to quietly rebuild her life as a single woman. Gone are the Park Avenue penthouse and designer clothes. Now it's a funky Chelsea loft, downtown fashion, and even a hip new haircut as Kate plunges back into her work—writing a book about America's most celebrated artistic era, the New York School of the 1940s and '50s, a circle that included Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Mark Rothko. But when a lunatic starts slashing the very paintings she is writing about—along with their owners—Kate is once again tapped by the NYPD. As she deciphers the evidence—cryptic images that reveal both the paintings and the people who will be the next targets—Kate is drawn into a world where art and art history provide lethal clues. The Killing Art is Jonathan Santlofer's most gripping and chilling story yet, but that isn't the only reason the novel is remarkable. The author, who is also an acclaimed artist, has created works of art just for the book that tantalize and challenge readers by using well-known symbols in innovative ways, allowing them to decode the clues along with Kate. A masterwork of both suspense fiction and art, The Killing Art will impress both thriller readers and art fans as the plot twists and turns toward a shocking climax.

Karate as the Art of Killing

Karate as the Art of Killing
Author: Masayuki Shimabukuro
Publisher: Blue Snake Books
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2022-05-24
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 162317662X

Grounded in a comprehensive overview of the philosophical and spiritual foundations that underlie karate, The Art of Killing emphasizes its original purpose: to kill an attacker swiftly and brutally. Prior to 1900, karate-dō was exclusively an art of unarmed self-defense. Its practice was designed for life-or-death situations--effectively, an art of killing. Here, authors Leonard Pellman and the late Masayuki Shimabukuro restore karate to its original intent. They move karate away from its popular modern-day sporting applications back to its deadly origins---and to the restraining philosophy of peace, self-sacrifice, compassion, and service to others that necessarily accompanied it. With chapters on kokoro (heart, mind, and spirit), ki (spirit and energy), and the seven major precepts of bushidō, The Art of Killing shows readers that the lethal art of karate is more than a method of bringing an enemy down--it’s a philosophical and spiritual system grounded in essential lessons to guard against abuses of power. This book does not contain detailed instruction in killing methods, but it does showcase the deadly power of karate--and explain why purity of intentions matters, and how compassion and respect are the essence of karate training. Readers will learn: The purpose and meaning of karate-dō The origins and major precepts of bushidō Training methods, preparation, and etiquette Fundamentals, spiritual power, training patterns, and analysis and application of kata About the body as a weapon

The Black Art of Killing

The Black Art of Killing
Author: Matthew Hall
Publisher: Penguin UK
Total Pages: 464
Release: 2020-04-02
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 140593090X

THE ACTION-PACKED THRILLER ABOUT ONE MAN FIGHTING FOR THE TRUTH 'A Bond-style thriller for the 21st century . . . It feels like a movie already' Daily Mail 'A fast based, breathless thriller' 5***** Reader Review 'Brilliant. Incredibly immersive' Tom Marcus _______ 'People sleep peacefully only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf...' After twenty years in the SAS, Leo Black put his soldiering life behind him in pursuit of a respectful academic career. But when a former comrade in arms is killed trying to prevent a scientist's abduction, Black is plunged into his violent past again. And that's just the start of it. Because this scientist wasn't the first to go missing - and she won't be the last. In a secretive facility in the Venezuelan jungle, a sinister plot is taking shape - one that will change the future of humanity itself. Now, to uncover the mystery, Black must put his deadly skills to use once more . . . _______ FROM THE SCREENWRITER OF BAFTA AWARD-WINNING SERIES KEEPING FAITH 'This is the new Bond' 5***** Reader Review 'This intelligent thriller is his best work yet' Sun 'A thriller with a difference . . . fast paced, well-written, all-action' 5***** Reader Review 'A fast-paced global thriller' Mail on Sunday 'Matthew Hall has crafted an action thriller with more texture than most' The Times 'Hall probes how a real-life Jack Reacher figure might cope with years of taking lives for the greater good, and Black's inner conflict gives the firefights and betrayals erupting around him unusual depth' The Times Praise for Matthew Hall 'Breathlessly enjoyable' The Times 'An edge-of-the-seat thriller . . . should come with a health warning' Irish Independent 'Fasten your seatbelts for a quality thriller . . .' Independent on Sunday

Murder, She Wrote: The Fine Art of Murder

Murder, She Wrote: The Fine Art of Murder
Author: Jessica Fletcher
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 202
Release: 2011-10-04
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1101544627

FRAMED? Jessica’s art-viewing Italian vacation is interrupted by a pair of gunmen who steal a painting and kill a retired police officer in the process. Agreeing to help identify the crooks should they be caught, Jessica returns to Cabot Cove and puts the shocking experience behind her. Months later, Wayne Simsbury, the stepson of an old friend, comes to her for help. Wayne’s father has been shot to death. Not only has Wayne’s stepmother, Marlise, been charged with the murder, but Wayne himself claims to have witnessed the crime. Unsure what to do, he has sought out Jessica—the one person his stepmother had always claimed could help with any problem. Now, on top of a seemingly open-and-shut murder case to crack in Chicago, Jessica finds herself back in Italy helping the police make their case against the art thieves—and she faces a looming danger that may connect the Italian killers to the fate of her old friend....

Basquiat

Basquiat
Author: Phoebe Hoban
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 376
Release: 2016-05-17
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1504034503

A New York Times Notable Book: This national bestseller is a vivid biography of the meteoric rise and tragic death of art star Jean-Michel Basquiat Painter Jean-Michel Basquiat was the Jimi Hendrix of the art world. In less than a decade, he went from being a teenage graffiti artist to an international art star; he was dead of a drug overdose at age twenty-seven. Basquiat’s brief career spanned the giddy 1980s art boom and epitomized its outrageous excess. A legend in his own lifetime, Basquiat was a fixture of the downtown scene, a wild nexus of music, fashion, art, and drugs. Along the way, the artist got involved with many of the period’s most celebrated personalities, from his friendships with Keith Haring and Andy Warhol to his brief romantic fling with Madonna. Nearly thirty years after his death, Basquiat’s story—and his art—continue to resonate and inspire. Posthumously, Basquiat is more successful than ever, with international retrospectives, critical acclaim, and multimillion dollar sales. Widely considered to be a major twentieth-century artist, Basquiat’s work has permeated the culture, from hip-hop shout-outs to a plethora of products. A definitive biography of this charismatic figure, Basquiat: A Quick Killing in Art is as much a portrait of the era as a portrait of the artist; an incisive exposé of the eighties art market that paints a vivid picture of the rise and fall of the graffiti movement, the East Village art scene, and the art galleries and auction houses that fueled his meteoric career. Basquiat resurrects both the painter and his time.

Pretext for Mass Murder

Pretext for Mass Murder
Author: John Roosa
Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Press
Total Pages: 348
Release: 2006-08-03
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780299220303

In the early morning hours of October 1, 1965, a group calling itself the September 30th Movement kidnapped and executed six generals of the Indonesian army, including its highest commander. The group claimed that it was attempting to preempt a coup, but it was quickly defeated as the senior surviving general, Haji Mohammad Suharto, drove the movement’s partisans out of Jakarta. Riding the crest of mass violence, Suharto blamed the Communist Party of Indonesia for masterminding the movement and used the emergency as a pretext for gradually eroding President Sukarno’s powers and installing himself as a ruler. Imprisoning and killing hundreds of thousands of alleged communists over the next year, Suharto remade the events of October 1, 1965 into the central event of modern Indonesian history and the cornerstone of his thirty-two-year dictatorship. Despite its importance as a trigger for one of the twentieth century’s worst cases of mass violence, the September 30th Movement has remained shrouded in uncertainty. Who actually masterminded it? What did they hope to achieve? Why did they fail so miserably? And what was the movement’s connection to international Cold War politics? In Pretext for Mass Murder, John Roosa draws on a wealth of new primary source material to suggest a solution to the mystery behind the movement and the enabling myth of Suharto’s repressive regime. His book is a remarkable feat of historical investigation. Finalist, Social Sciences Book Award, the International Convention of Asian Scholars

The Jakarta Method

The Jakarta Method
Author: Vincent Bevins
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Total Pages: 362
Release: 2020-05-19
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1541724011

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2020 BY NPR, THE FINANCIAL TIMES, AND GQ The hidden story of the wanton slaughter -- in Indonesia, Latin America, and around the world -- backed by the United States. In 1965, the U.S. government helped the Indonesian military kill approximately one million innocent civilians. This was one of the most important turning points of the twentieth century, eliminating the largest communist party outside China and the Soviet Union and inspiring copycat terror programs in faraway countries like Brazil and Chile. But these events remain widely overlooked, precisely because the CIA's secret interventions were so successful. In this bold and comprehensive new history, Vincent Bevins builds on his incisive reporting for the Washington Post, using recently declassified documents, archival research and eye-witness testimony collected across twelve countries to reveal a shocking legacy that spans the globe. For decades, it's been believed that parts of the developing world passed peacefully into the U.S.-led capitalist system. The Jakarta Method demonstrates that the brutal extermination of unarmed leftists was a fundamental part of Washington's final triumph in the Cold War.

The Killing Season

The Killing Season
Author: Geoffrey B. Robinson
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 456
Release: 2019-10
Genre: History
ISBN: 0691196494

The definitive account of one of the twentieth century’s most brutal, yet least examined, episodes of genocide and detention The Killing Season explores one of the largest and swiftest, yet least examined, instances of mass killing and incarceration in the twentieth century—the shocking antileftist purge that gripped Indonesia in 1965–66, leaving some five hundred thousand people dead and more than a million others in detention. An expert in modern Indonesian history, genocide, and human rights, Geoffrey Robinson sets out to account for this violence and to end the troubling silence surrounding it. In doing so, he sheds new light on broad, enduring historical questions. How do we account for instances of systematic mass killing and detention? Why are some of these crimes remembered and punished, while others are forgotten? Based on a rich body of primary and secondary sources, The Killing Season is the definitive account of a pivotal period in Indonesian history.