"Maeda’s cultural history is compulsively readable. Like Water focuses heavily on Lee’s life, but it also treats Lee as a literal embodiment of the complex forces of imperialism, colonialism, and attitudes toward Asians in the United States during the mid-20th century. It provides a lot of background for readers who may not have that context, but it may leave some hungry for still more... General-interest readers looking for an accessible, well-researched account of Lee’s life will find Like Water a good fit, as will more serious readers."
The Los Angeles Review of Books
"Review"
The Spectator - Christopher Bray
★ 06/01/2022
The legendary Bruce Lee is someone that not only took Hollywood by storm, but a man who revolutionized martial arts. Born in San Francisco in 1940, Bruce had an interest in the martial arts from a young age. As a boy, he would throw punches and kicks while walking down the street, he would also pound a stool while eating so he could strengthen his hands. Maeda (Rethinking the Asian American Movement ) takes an in-depth look at Lee's life and incredible journey. This is a fascinating look at Lee's impact as a martial artist, actor, and director. It delves into the aspects of his life that few know about. Maeda describes how much of a perfectionist Bruce was and how intense he would become while making each of his films. This is an outstanding account of his life from his birth to his controversial and tragic death at age 32 in 1973. One thing is for sure—there will never be another legend like Bruce Lee. VERDICT Film buffs, martial arts enthusiasts, and fans of Bruce Lee will thoroughly enjoy this exceptional biography.—Gus Palas
2022-05-25
Maeda, a professor of ethnic studies, adds to the already large body of popular and academic work on Bruce Lee (1940-1973), focusing on his subject’s emergence from, and efforts to harmonize, a multitude of Western and Eastern influences. This accessible study offers astute analyses of Lee’s early training in both martial arts and Cantonese opera, his development of a hybrid fighting style called Jeet Kune Do, his verbal and physical expressions of a distinct philosophy, and his keen navigation of both Chinese and American mass media. Maeda positions Lee’s career as a product of—and significant contributor to—long-evolving transnational exchanges across the Pacific, and he argues forcefully that his subject’s achievements in blending cultural traditions are worthy of celebration: “His peripatetic life and career contributed to the continuing entanglement of China and the United States across great distances, interweaving and unraveling structures involving nationalism, colonialism, race, and gender.” The author provides a clear sense of how Lee’s efforts to establish himself as an entertainer included a profound moral component. Initially cast by American directors in TV and film roles that reinforced Orientalist prejudices, Lee worked tirelessly to expand the identities available to Asian characters onscreen, creating myriad opportunities for other performers. Particularly compelling are Maeda’s discussions of how Lee’s physical dynamism and erotic appeal challenged stereotypes about Asian masculinity and how his political activism on behalf of Asian Americans aligned with the Black Power movement. The author’s use of academic frameworks is sometimes strained and unhelpful in framing Lee’s significance, but for the most part, the book provides lucid analysis of Lee’s lasting significance as the “first global icon to emerge from outside the West.”
A thoughtful, well-informed consideration of the life and legacy of a trailblazing entertainer.
"Decades after his untimely death, Bruce Lee, like water, still flows across the globe as an inspiration to the marginalized, the colonized, the immigrant, the dispossessed, and the oppressed. Daryl Joji Maeda’s powerful new book places the martial arts megastar/philosopher and his multicultural circle in the critical context of transpacific studies. Maeda does a masterful job of giving us a different way of understanding Bruce Lee and his legacy by avoiding the ‘classical mess’ of pinning the mercurial Lee to Asia or America rather than allowing him to float across the vast Pacific."
"Maeda’s contribution is significant. The book is an easy and enjoyable read, even as it is also a major contribution our understanding of the biography, the context of the work, and the many culturally significant aspects of Bruce Lee, from his fight for fame to the nature of his contributions to film, popular philosophy and physical culture."
American Literary History
"Marvelous and momentous. Maeda’s knowledge of Bruce Lee is breathtakingly comprehensive and impressive and has completely expanded and transformed my understanding of Lee. Like Water is easily the most consequential and definitive book on Lee that has been published to date."
co-editor of Eating Asian America: A Food Stu Robert Ji Song Ku
"Maeda argues that Lee’s films, which combined elements of Spaghetti Westerns, James Bond films, and Cantonese opera, were equally the result of the vision of one man, who also lived between worlds, and the cultural and economic exchange that took place in the 20th century following World War II … Maeda’s point is that without cultural exchange there would have been no Bruce Lee. Maeda’s study of Lee reminds us that without cultural appropriation there would be no culture."
"Conceived as a multifaceted cultural history, Like Water tells the story of the making of Bruce Lee as a transpacific icon. Foregrounding the larger geopolitical and cross-cultural forces at work, Daryl Joji Maeda tracks Lee's incessantly migratory footsteps from his on-the-road birth at a Chinese hospital in San Francisco to his mysterious death at his paramour's pad in Hong Kong. As a cultural history, the book is rich and expansive, compiling a montage of big subjects such as Chinese immigration, Cantonese opera in America, and the history of Chinese cinema. As a biography, Like Water draws the contours of Lee's life while highlighting flashpoints of his legend."-- "Yunte Huang, University of California Santa Barbara" Citing China: Politics, Postmodernism, and World Cinema "Like Water focuses heavily on Lee's life, but it also treats Lee as a literal embodiment of the complex forces of imperialism, colonialism, and attitudes toward Asians in the United States during the mid-20th century. It provides a lot of background for readers who may not have that context, but it may leave some hungry for still more... General-interest readers looking for an accessible, well-researched account of Lee's life will find Like Water a good fit, as will more serious readers."-- "The Los Angeles Review of Books"Like Water is easily the most consequential and definitive book on Lee that has been published to date."-- "Robert Ji Song Ku, co-editor of Eating Asian America: A Food Studies Reader "
"Conceived as a multifaceted cultural history, Like Water tells the story of the making of Bruce Lee as a transpacific icon. Foregrounding the larger geopolitical and cross-cultural forces at work, Daryl Joji Maeda tracks Lee’s incessantly migratory footsteps from his on-the-road birth at a Chinese hospital in San Francisco to his mysterious death at his paramour’s pad in Hong Kong. As a cultural history, the book is rich and expansive, compiling a montage of big subjects such as Chinese immigration, Cantonese opera in America, and the history of Chinese cinema. As a biography, Like Water draws the contours of Lee’s life while highlighting flashpoints of his legend."
Universityof California Santa Barbara Yunte Huang
