The Best Fight: A Memoir of a Martial Art Practitioner, Publisher, and Author

SANTA FE, NM, UNITED STATES, December 27, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ — What publishing company was founded in 1992 noted for producing a journal and books of high academic and aesthetic standards focusing on Asian martial arts? It is Via Media Publishing, the brainchild of Michael DeMarco — the author of The Best Fight: A Memoir of a Martial Art Practitioner, Publisher, and Author.

For over thirty years, Via Media have been a major influence worldwide, transforming the view of martial arts. Fighting arts are often disparaged for their violent aspects. The positive side of these arts as a vital part of culture has been highlighted by Via Media, bring the martial arts into the academic area as a respected subject for study.

Library Journal declared Via Media’s Journal of Asian Martial Arts (1992-2012) “One of the Ten Best Magazines of 1992.” With the growth of the internet and a global economic downturn, the journal discontinued publication. Via Media then focused on producing sixty-seven anthologies and new books, including titles by DeMarco: Martial Art Essays from Beijing, 1780, and Wuxia America: The Timely Emergence of a Chinese American Hero.

Publishers, writers, researchers, and serious practitioners will benefit with the detailed overview of Via Media and its publications as covered in The Best Fight. It is a vital reference for the contents of the Journal of Asian Martial Arts with full listings of articles, authors and topics included in each volume. In addition, the book presents important ways Via Media and DeMarco participated in academic conferences and served to nourish the field of study.

The first two chapters present DeMarco’s studies of martial arts. These focus on his teachers of Chinese-Indonesian kunto-silat in the USA, and Yang and Chen styles of Tai Chi in Taiwan. This practical experience influenced DeMarco’s reasons for founding Via Media Publishing. The final chapter covers DeMarco’s teaching—transferring the martial traditions he has synthesized from his teachers.

DeMarco writes that “Our genes are still infused with survival instincts in a world where the idea of ‘survival of the fittest’ remans dominant.” Surprisingly, the theme of the The Best Fight is for everyone to work toward adapting martial arts into a civilized lifestyle.

Michael A. DeMarco
Via Media Publishing
[email protected]
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