American Combat Association

Review: Rough And Tumble The History Of American Submission Wrestling/Erik Paulson, Matt Granahan and JD Dwyer
 
This recently published book is a fast-paced and fact-filled chronological account of the history of North American “rough-and-tumble” fighting and catch-as-catch-can wrestling and its direct relationship to the development of modern MMA. The team of authors, Paulson, Granahan and Dwyer cover a lot of territory in their work. The book includes wrestling Presidents, carnival athletic shows, Brazilian vale tudo, Japanese shootfighting, the early days of professional wrestling, wrestling/jiu-jitsu challenge matches, as well as the exploits of such legends as Farmer Burns, Ad Santel, John Pesek, Mitsuyo Maeda, Karl Gotch, Karl Von Hess, Frankie Cain, Billy Wicks, Antonio Inoki, Bruce Lee and Ken Shamrock.
 
I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in MMA, wrestling, and martial arts.
 
Mark S. Hewitt       
(author of Catch Wrestling; and Catch Wrestling Round Two
Paladin Press www.paladin-press.com )