John Donohue Research Paper

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John Donohue is an American martial artist and novelist whose works explore the implications of a life of action in elite martial arts training. Donohue got his first start in the martial arts in the seventies in an era when Kung Fu and Bruce Lee movies were very popular. As a person that had always had an interest in foreign cultures even going as far as studying them for his doctorate, he was captivated with the Asian perspective of old-fashioned martial arts that integrated physical technique and philosophical concepts. He started his training on the real martial arts from several popular how to manuals from Bruce Tegner and Kung Fu. Trying out the concepts, he soon found out that there was more to martial arts than just training and reading …show more content…

With his fascination with the potential and the themes of human action possible in the discipline, John believed he could have an even greater impact writing martial arts fiction. In 2000, he started working on his first Connor Burke thriller titled Sense that was finally published in 2003. A sequel titled Deshi in 2005, and Tengu the third title in the series in 2008 came on the heels of Sensei. Given that he had always been fascinated with the Asian martial art and cultural aspects of Asia, writing about a character of action and philosophy came easy to him. He majored in Shotokan Karatedo in college and then proceeded for more practical training and education. He attended State University of New York at Stony Brook from where he got his Anthropology Ph.D. His doctorate was an analysis of Japanese martial arts cultural aspects most of which found their way into his debut title The Forge of the Spirit. After graduating from college he held jobs in publishing, advertising, and in the hospitality industry though most of his adult life has been spent working in education. When he has not been writing he has been either a senior level manager of a college or a teacher of some kind. Fusing his way with the sword and the pen, John is an expert in several martial arts disciplines including taiji, kendo, karatedo, judo, jaido, and aikido. He has a black belt in both kendo and

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