1) 50 years / What is BJJ Today

About this book:
This book tells the history and evolution of BJJ through over 500 rare images. From pre-Meiji Japan, to Jigoro Kano and the foundation of judo, to Japanese immigration to Brazil, to the introduction of pre-War judo to the Gracie family and all the way to the transformation the art underwent in the South-Zone of Rio as various characters and social phenomena intertiwned to give shape to the worldwide phenomenon that we now refer to as "Brazilian jiu-jitsu."

What is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu today? The question, I hope, elicits the desired effect of leading the reader into reflection about jiu-jitsu and its definition. Since the word “today,” carries within it the implication that at some point in time, the art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu wassomething else entirely and may yet become something different still. What it was, is and what it is morphing into are the topics of a trilogy.” Following the success of Opening Closed Guard and The Rise and Evolution of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Robert Drysdale urges us to think the current state of affairs in the jiu-jitsu world. In his own words, “are the gains superior to what is being lost?”

What is BJJ today ? 

In this current work, the author continues his use of oral tradition to enrich these discussions and shed some light on where the art currently stands. Unlike his previous works however, the discussions (or “taidans” in Japanese) in this book have a freer flow to them and do not follow an interview format, but rather the format of an irregular conversation between two experts and aficionados of the gentle-art. These discussions are intermingled with chapters that give further sustenance to the observations highlighted in these conversations.