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(More customer reviews)This book is called an "illustrated history" of the most famous family in martial arts. While it has some useful information about the Gracies, it is less a history of the family by an outside and objective observer than it is a celebration of the family's achievements by someone who is almost part of the family himself.
First, the book's good points. The illustrations are beautiful. Many photos are in color, including some that are large enough to cover two pages. There are also a few black and white photos of Carlos and Helio in their fighting prime. The book gives ample space to not only the more famous members of the Gracie family from an American or European perspective -- fighters such as Rickson, Royce, and Royler -- but also to those Gracies who are not as well known -- fighters such as Rolls and Carlos Jr. Finally, the book is generally well-written and well-organized.
Unfortunately, despite these good points, the book's author, Kid Peligro, simply doesn't have the emotional distance from the family to cover it objectively. For most U.S. and European readers, this will be evident when the book turns to more recent events. An especially egregious example is the coverage of Royler Gracie's fight against mixed martial arts legend Kazushi Sakuraba in the Pride Fighting Championships.
To anyone who didn't have a dog in that fight, Sakuraba obviously destroyed Royler. It was such an embarrassing mismatch that in the middle of the contest Royler was reduced to asking -- pleading, really -- for his Japanese opponent to go down to the mat and wrestle him. Near the end of the fight, Sakuraba did indeed go down with Royler and quickly put the Brazilian in an armbar (in what is known as a "Kimura"). He held it for about fifteen seconds to a half minute, slowing torquing it as Royler refused to concede. With less than a minute left, the Japanese referee finally decided to call the match in Sakuraba's favor out of fear that Royler's arm might break. As the match was without judges, and any fight that did not end in a knockout or submission was to be ruled a draw, the Gracies were upset at the referee's decision. Royler had not been knocked out or submitted, but the referee had given Sakuraba the victory anyway.
In his book, Peligro gives Sakuraba some credit (how could he not?), but basically argues that his victory was tainted and that Royler had learned a valuable lesson from the fight: "I learned jiu-jitsu has no limits." Actually, the lesson Royler should have learned from the fight was that if he takes on a great opponent in a mixed martial arts contest, he has a good chance of being crippled. The punishment he absorbed, especially to his legs, was enormous. If the fight had not been just two rounds, Royler would have quickly decided that jiu-jitsu did indeed have limits and that he had reached them. Peligro also mischaracterizes Sakuraba's Kimura: it was well-set and there was nothing Royler could do to defend against it other than to hope he was more flexible than Gumby. If you watch the fight, there are a couple camera shots where Royler grimaces when Sakuraba twists his arm. He was clearly in pain. He also could not hit Sakuraba or otherwise improve his position. A referee is well within his rights to stop a fight if he thinks a fighter's well-being is in danger.
There are other examples of this kind of coverage in the book. Why doesn't Rickson fight quality opponents? Why isn't Royce's jiu-jitsu match against Wallid Ismail included in the book? These omissions and the slanted view of several fights show that Peligro is not interested in history so much as he is in celebrating the Gracie family. There's nothing wrong with that, of course. The Gracies deserve credit for revolutionizing martial arts and popularizing mixed martial arts contests. But an honest history would also address the fact that the Gracies are no longer at the cutting edge of mixed martial arts as they once were. This book does not do that.
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The Gracie Way: An Illustrated History of the World's Greatest Martial Arts Family (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu series)The faces and stories of the sprawling Gracie family, who transformed Brazilian jiu-jitsu from an unknown street technique into the dominant form of martial arts today, are captured here. Introduced are Grandmaster Helio Gracie, who as a frail boy in Brazil in the 1930s developed the art, creating leverage techniques that allowed him to overcome other martial artists, regardless of size or strength; Rickson Gracie, the mystical family champion who has never been defeated in combat; and Royce Gracie, the most famous active martial artist in the United States, who put Brazilian jiu-jitsu on the map by winning the first three Ultimate Fighting Championships before the largest pay-per-view audiences in history. In addition to stunning action shots of the Gracies in all the legendary matches and their unique perspectives on what really went on during those fights, this book includes archival photos of the family, from their beginnings in Brazil in the 1930 to the present day and the new generation of champions. Fans will learn of Renzo's transformation from Rio street brawler to New York celebrity and revered teacher; of Royce and Royler's exploits as mischievous kids; and of Rickson's battle against one of Rio's toughest drug gangs.
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