Striking Beauty

David Hills, Stanford University:
Allen is our preeminent student of artistry in the applied arts, the beauty that comes as an unsought byproduct of devotion to instrumental effectiveness. Here he writes as a seasoned practitioner about Asian martial arts—disciplines whose devotion to bodily excellence and violence pose special challenges to sympathetic philosophical understanding

Gordon Marino, St. Olaf College:
Allen presents a dazzling display of intellectual moves that strike to the core of the wisdom behind the Asian martial arts. As though we were on the mat, he gracefully throws the reader from illuminating historical accounts to pages of penetrating philosophical analysis. He locks up with broad issues about the nature of violence and power as well as such strange but compelling questions as how it is that some of us can find a violent punch an object of sublime beauty.Both a romp and a workout, this elegantly written book should be mandatory reading for all students of the martial arts.

Richard Shusterman, author of Thinking through the Body: Essays in Somaesthetics:
Displaying a firm understanding of both Western and Chinese philosophical traditions, Striking Beauty instructively addresses the much neglected topic of East Asian martial arts philosophy, providing scholarly insights into ethics, aesthetics, and comparative philosophy from a convincing somatic perspective.

Crispin Sartwell, Dickinson College, author of Six Names of Beauty:
Striking Beauty is a necessary book, connecting themes from Chinese and Western spiritual and philosophical traditions with the embodied aesthetics of self-cultivation found in the martial arts. Allen's discussion is lively, wide-ranging, and multiply revealing. From Buddha and Laozi to Bruce Lee and postmodernism, from dance to sport to sculpture: Allen displays mastery of incredibly wide-ranging materials. Both philosophers and practitioners will find his treatment accurate, broad, profound, and potentially transformative, revealing much about combat and art, life and intellect, body and mind.

Graham Priest, Graduate Center, CUNY:
One might think that there is no connection at all between the martial arts and philosophy; but there are many, as Barry Allen shows in Striking Beauty. The book is both knowledgeable and perceptive, and Allen writes with a clarity that makes it a pleasure to read. This is an engaging book for any martial artist or any philosopher with an interest in the martial arts, as well as for any other philosopher who welcomes a novel perspective on his or her subject

Stanley Henning, independent scholar of Chinese martial arts history:
An incredible book that views the Chinese martial arts from every angle—philosophical, psychological, and practical—from their home of origin throughout the world at large, from ancient times to the present. Truly a breathtaking experience.

Hans-Georg Möeller, University of Macau:
Striking Beauty presents a beautifully and forcefully written account of the philosophical background of martial arts in Eastern and Western traditions. At the same time, it also presents the author's vision of a contemporary philosophy, and phenomenology, of the martial arts and their aesthetic, somatic, and ethical dimensions. It is a ground-breaking and inspiring book that will appeal to everyone interested in the practice, theory, and history of martial arts.