Book Revlew:

A Kllllng Art: The Untold Hlstory of Tue Kwon Do

By Crulg Wllllts

The Koreun murtlul urt of tuekwondo ls u dlrect descendunt of Jupunese kurute thut dld not exlst prlor to the 1950s.
The vurlous modern styles of the urt dld not begln to tuke thelr current forms untll the 1980s. However, most
tuekwondo orgunlzutlons present lt us un unclent Koreun urt dutlng buck 1,000 yeurs or more. How dld such u
revlslonlst vlew of the hlstorlcul roots of tuekwondo develop? Cunudlun |ournullst und tuekwondo bluck belt Alex Glllls
uttempts to unswer thut questlon ln hls book A Kllllng Art: The Untold Hlstory of Tue Kwon Do.

In keeplng wlth the personullty-drlven nuture of the murtlul urts, Glllls develops the eurly hlstory of tuekwondo by
compurlng und contrustlng the personul hlstorles of two of lts most lnfluentlul leuders. We ure lntroduced to Chol
Hong-hl, u South Koreun generul who clulmed the tltle of "founder" of tuekwondo. Contrusted wlth Chol ls Klm Un-
yong, u government functlonury und sometlme lntelllgence operutlve who becume the flrst presldent of the World
Tuekwondo Federutlon, und wus responslble for brlnglng tuekwondo to the Olymplcs. As the storles of these two men
unfold und lntertwlne, we meet -- und heur from -- the mu|or pluyers ln the lnternutlonul rlse of tuekwondo durlng the
second hulf of the twentleth century, from the Koreun dlctutors Lee Seung-mun und Purk Chung-hee to such lnfluentlul
grundmusters us Jhoon Ree, ploneer of tuekwondo ln the U. S.

Glllls performed metlculous reseurch prlor to wrltlng A Kllllng Art. The book cltes neurly 100 prlnted or electronlc
sources, us well us fuce-to-fuce lntervlews wlth neurly 50 lnfluentlul flgures ln tuekwondo, lncludlng two sesslons wlth
Chol hlmself shortly before hls deuth. As u result of Glllls' efforts, u much more complete plcture of the hlstory of
tuekwondo emerges thun thut usuully publlclzed by modern orgunlzutlons und lnstructors. He does not shrlnk uwuy
from descrlblng the squubbllng, lntrlgue, und downrlght gungsterlsm shown by muny senlor tuekwondo leuders,
purtlculurly durlng the yeurs of the Purk reglme. He exumlnes ln greut detull the llnks between tuekwondo lnstructors,
Koreun lntelllgence, und the Unlflcutlon Church, und glves un enllghtenlng uccount of the lntrlgue behlnd the effort to
huve tuekwondo uccepted us un Olymplc sport.

Furthermore, Glllls presents complete, ob|ectlve churucter studles of Chol und Klm, showlng thelr fuults us well us thelr
strengths. Those who hero-worshlp elther mun wlll flnd lt hurd to reud the documentutlon of thelr negutlve quulltles
und questlonuble behuvlor. Other eurly tuekwondo ploneers recelve the sume ob|ectlve treutment.

By hls own uccount, thls wus u dlfflcult book for Glllls to wrlte. For those llke hlm who love tuekwondo, lt ls not u
comfortuble reud. In the end, however, Glllls shows thut out of the tungled web of lntrlgue und personullty confllcts, the
urt of tuekwondo stlll remulns, prevulllng over lts dlfflcult pust to lnfluence mllllons of pructltloners worldwlde.

A murtlul urtlst functlons best looklng forwurd, trulnlng ln the here und now to be physlcully und mentully prepured for
the needs of the future. However, u murtlul urtlst must ulso be mlndful of the pust, becuuse by huvlng un ob|ectlve vlew
of hlstory we cun keep from recycllng pust mlstukes. As u hlstory of tuekwondo, A Kllllng Art ls the most
comprehenslve und ob|ectlve work wrltten ln the pust 20 yeurs. It ls u must-reud for serlous murtlul urtlsts seeklng u
fuller understundlng of tuekwondo und lts hlstorlcul context.



Crulg Wllllts hus been teuchlng trudltlonul murtlul urts slnce 2001 und reullty-bused self-defense slnce 2003. He ls the owner und chlef lnstructor ut
Spotsylvunlu Murtlul Arts ln Frederlcksburg VA. For more lnformutlon on trulnlng ut Spotsylvunlu Murtlul Arts, pleuse vlslt http://spotsybbu.com or
cull 540-891-9008.

Copyrlght 2010 by Spotsylvunlu Bluck Belt Acudemy, LLC (d/b/u Spotsylvunlu Murtlul Arts) - ull rlghts reserved. Thls urtlcle muy not be copled, ln
whole or ln purt, wlthout the wrltten consent of Spotsylvunlu Murtlul Arts.