Publisher's Synopsis
Literary Nonfiction. Andy Martrich's ETHICAL PROBE ON MIXED MARTIAL ARTS ENTHUSIASTS IN THE USA dissects the American Dream in all of its corruption and excess, beginning with the claim that the entire sport is nothing more (and nothing less) than cultural appropriation spectacularized through a series of snake-oil martial arts studio 'white ninja' huckster-entrepreneurs bent on profiteering from self-mythology, gym memberships, mail-order black belts, and branded-equipment sales. Better yet, Martrich reproduces the same frenzied pace and P.T. Barnum ethos as his subject in what is at once a provocative and insightful semiotic critique of American popular culture and a literary tour-de-force riding the thin red line between fantasy and reality. Is ETHICAL PROBE an invaluable critical study of the intersection of culture and economics in late capitalist America, or a performative gesture playing fast and loose with a borrowed theoretical vocabulary? Is Martrich a patient and perceptive critic carefully parsing the history of a beloved American pastime or is he, like the mixed martial artists he depicts, a critical charlatan, imposing his own system of belief on a subject he knows nothing about? In the end, does it even matter? As the book tells us, there's no truth anymore, only 'American truth feeling, ' and Martrich delivers that feeling full-throttle. ETHICAL PROBE goes to the mat in its interrogation of the terror of belief and enthusiasm in these United States--it's essential reading for the Trump Era or any era between now and the fall of the evil empire. If you, like me, only read one book on martial arts this year, make it ETHICAL PROBE. As Martrich tells us, money is what makes things a reality these days, so why not buy two? It makes the perfect gift for someone who doesn't know anything about mixed martial arts and doesn't really want to learn.--Aaron Winslo
