Martial Arts Books By Dustin Shane Bunnell
Research, history, martial virtue, and the culture of traditional martial arts.
My books explore Chinese martial arts, Qigong, martial virtue, history, folklore, training, and the claims that surround traditional practice. Drawing from historical sources, archival research, translation, and more than four decades of martial arts practice, these books approach tradition with both respect and scrutiny.
Preserve what deserves preservation. Question what deserves questioning. Follow the evidence.
Featured Book
SACRED COWS AND BROKEN NOSES
Confronting Martial Arts Misinformation
How many martial arts beliefs survive because they work, and how many survive because nobody dares question them?
Sacred Cows and Broken Noses examines thirty common myths, assumptions, and reasoning errors found throughout martial arts culture. Drawing from decades of training and research, Dustin Shane Bunnell investigates what holds up under pressure, what has been misunderstood, and what deserves to be reconsidered.
Inside:
• Why Qi does not need to be magic to be meaningful
• Why forms alone cannot create fighting skill
• Why Chi Sao and flow drills are not combat
• Why lineage preserves history but does not prove effectiveness
• Why conditioning remains essential regardless of style
• Why identity and tribalism distort honest practice
• Why self-defense requires more than physical technique
This is not an attack on tradition. It is a defense of honest training.
Can your beliefs survive contact with reality?
Other Books
The Wude Series
The ethical foundation behind every critique and reform in my work.
Wude
The Ethics of Kung Fu
An exploration of martial virtue and the ethical principles that give traditional Kung Fu meaning beyond physical skill.
Living Wude
The Modern Path of Martial Virtue
A practical guide to applying the traditional virtues of martial arts to training, relationships, decisions, and everyday life.
Wude and the Jianghu
The Hidden World of Martial Virtue
An exploration of the historical and legendary Jianghu, and the codes of honor, loyalty, reputation, and martial virtue that governed life within it.
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Wude and the Citizen
Civic Virtue in an Age of Confusion
A look into how martial virtue can inform citizenship, civic responsibility, justice, authority, and ethical conduct in a divided age.
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Qigong and the Politics of Breath
From Marxism to Mysticism
A historical investigation into how politics, medicine, ideology, and spirituality transformed Qigong in modern China.
Book of Illusions: Mysticism, Manipulation & the
Making of Modern Kung Fu
An investigation into mysticism, extraordinary claims, manipulation, invented traditions, and the myths that helped shape modern Kung Fu.
Sacred Cows & Broken Noses
Confronting Martial Arts Misinformation
An examination of martial arts misinformation that challenges cherished myths, questionable histories, false authority, and extraordinary claims.