The Dragon and the Tiger: The Oakland Years: Volume 2 [Paperback]

Sid Campbell (Author), Greglon Lee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 20, 2005

Although the time Bruce Lee spent in Oakland, California is often treated as a mere footnote on his path to stardom, these years had a substantial impact on the martial artist and man he would become. After many years of research, authors Sid Campbell and Greglon Yimm Lee (son of James Yimm Lee) continue their fascinating, up-close description of Bruce Lee's early life.

The Dragon and the Tiger, Volume 2 takes up where Volume 1 left off, detailing Bruce Lee's departure from Seattle and his adventure-filled return to Oakland. We follow him as he comes to better know Gung-fu extraordinaire James Lee and his circle of martial arts friends. As Bruce discovers James's numerous talents—as an author, publisher, martial arts equipment inventor, herbal pharmacologist, body builder, and phenomenal 'brick breaker'—he begins to make regular trips from Seattle to Oakland to learn from this exceptional man. Bruce Lee also begins teaching his Jun Fan Gung-fu and elements of chun to his newfound friend.

Bruce Lee and James Yimm Lee were both highly opinionated free thinkers and when Bruce and his new bride Linda Emery Lee moved to Oakland and lived with James Lee's family, they began to share ideas, insights, philosophies, friendship, camaraderie, and a deep respect for one another's special traits and talents. Although James was twenty years Bruce's senior, they forged a bond and became more like brothers than friends- young Greglon Lee even took to calling Bruce and Linda 'Uncle' and 'Aunt.' This rare friendship and further never-before-revealed details from the life of the young Bruce Lee unfold in The Dragon and the Tiger, Volume 2, a story the authors refer to as the 'Fusion of Two Fighters.'

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Sid Campbell is a leading authority on traditional Okinawan and Japanese martial arts and holds a 10th degree black belt in shorin-ryu karate. He is an artist, lecturer, inventor, scriptwriter, and World Martial Art Masters Association Hall of Fame inductee. He also supervises over 48 shorin-ryu branch schools around the world and had the opportunity to share martial arts knowledge with both Bruce Lee and James Yimm Lee when they visited his dojo in Oakland, California in the late 1960's.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Frog Books (January 20, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1583941185
• ISBN-13: 978-1583941188
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.7 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,040,595 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The History of America's Forgotten Martial Pioneers, March 1, 2006

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C. J. Hardman (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Dragon and the Tiger: The Oakland Years: Volume 2 (Paperback)

Volume two picks up where the previous issue left off. Plenty of stories here to delight the curious, as featured Bruce Lee and James Yimm Lee interact with Kenpo's Ralph Castro, T.Y. Wong, Al Novak, Wally Jay, etc. While it is probably the name of Bruce Lee that will attract most readers, it is the story of James Yimm Lee that I have been following. The experiences of these men are intertwined as they search for understanding and mastery over themselves. These are the days before Bruce Lee's fame as a screen star, when James Yimm Lee Introduces Bruce Lee to bodybuilding, and Bruce teaches James the Sil Lim Tao form of Wing Chun Kung Fu. James teaches Bruce how to break bricks, and Bruce Lee brings James to a new level in Chi Sao. Bruce is fascinated with a method of breaking whereby James and his student Al Novak are able to break a specified brick out of a stack of many...Bruce wants to know how it is done, and James tells him. One third of the book deals with the effort to write and publish Bruce Lee's first book, "Chinese Gung-Fu: The Philosophical Art of Self-Defense".

One of the faults of this series is that it is written as a long story. There are no footnotes, no bibliography or index at the back. This makes it awfully hard to use as a factual reference. Were there interviews done, and with whom? Who contributed to this book, is entirely based on the memories of James Yimm Lee's son, Greglon Lee? That aside, "The Dragon and The Tiger" series makes for an enjoyable read. More's the pity that so many of the pioneers of physical culture and martial arts from that era remain unknown and unheralded. Perhaps along with James Lee, someday we will have detailed accounts of (or by for those who are still with us) Al Novak, Lau Bun, T.Y. Wong, James Wing Woo and Paul Pung to keep Bruce company on our shelves.