Sign-In
Cart
Water Mirror Echo: Bruce Lee and the Making of Asian America
Audio Book
Entertainment & Performing ArtsAsian American StudiesGeneral Sociology
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: Sep 23 2025
Weight: 0.85
Height: 1.91 Width: 6.01 Depth: 5.41
Language: English
Water Mirror Echo is a remarkable story of a man, the traditions and communities that created him, and the new worlds he made possible. Like Bruce Lee himself, Jeff Chang is blessed with the vision to see things we do not yet see, thinking and writing with a restless, chasm-crossing, almost prophetic ambition. -- Hua Hsu, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Stay True: A Memoir
This book is as celebratory as it is incisive, as it is, at times, heartbreaking. A massive achievement. -- Hanif Abdurraqib, National Book Award-winning author of There's Always This Year and A Little Devil in America
A cultural biography, both sweeping and intimate, of the legend Bruce Lee, set against the extraordinary, untold story of the rise of Asian America--from the author of the award-winning classic Can't Stop Won't Stop and one of the finest culture observers of our era.
More than a half-century after his passing, Bruce Lee is as towering a figure to people around the world as ever. On his path to becoming a global icon, he popularized martial arts in the West, became a bridge to people and cultures from the East, and just as he was set to conquer Hollywood once and for all, he died of cerebral edema at age thirty-two. It's no wonder that Bruce Lee's legend has only bloomed in the decades since. Yet, in so many ways, the legend has eclipsed the man.
Forgotten is the stark reality of the baby boy born in segregated San Francisco, who spent his youth in war-ravaged, fight-crazy Hong Kong. Forgotten is the curious teenager who found his way back to America, where he embraced West Coast counterculture and meshed it with the Asian worldviews and philosophies that reared him. Forgotten is the man whose very presence broke barriers and helped shape the idea of what being an Asian in America is, at the very dawn of Asian America.
Water Mirror Echo--a title inspired by Bruce Lee's own way of moving, being and responding to the world--is a page-turning and powerful reminder. At the helm is Jeff Chang, the award-winning author of Can't Stop Won't Stop, whose writing on culture, politics, the arts and music have made him one of the most acclaimed and distinctive voices of our time. In his hands, Bruce Lee's story brims with authenticity.
Now, based on in-depth interviews with Lee's closest intimates, thousands of newly available personal documents, Chang achieves the nearly impossible. He reveals the man behind the enduring iconography and stirringly shows Lee's growing fame ushering in something that's turned out to be even more enduring: the creation of Asian America.
Also in
Entertainment & Performing Arts
Kitchen Confidential Annotated Edition: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
Bourdain, Anthony
Paperback
A Screaming Life: Into the Superunknown with Soundgarden and Beyond
Thayil, Kim
Tepedelen, Adem
Hardcover
The Last Kings of Hollywood: Coppola, Lucas, Spielberg--And the Battle for the Soul of American Cinema
Fischer, Paul
Hardcover
North of Ordinary: How One Woman Left It All Behind for Wilderness and Wonder in Alaska's Frozen Frontier
Aikens, Sue
Hardcover
Lil' John: Laughing My Way Through Life: Stories from an Accidental Career on Cleveland Tv--And More!
Rinaldi, John
Paperback
Dolly Parton Songteller: My Life in Lyrics: My Life in Lyrics
Parton, Dolly
Oermann, Robert K.
Hardcover
Bottom of the Pyramid: A Memoir of Persevering, Dancing for Myself, and Starring in My Own Life
Sioux, Nia
Hardcover
Remember the Time: Protecting Michael Jackson in His Final Days
Beard, Javon
Whitfield, Bill
Hardcover
Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black, New Edition: Collected Stories
Mueller, Cookie
Paperback
Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum
Fox, Michael J.
Fortenberry, Nelle
Hardcover
A Place Both Wonderful and Strange: The Extraordinary Untold History of Twin Peaks
Meslow, Scott
Hardcover
Is This It: The Never-Ending Rise and Fall of the Strokes (and Rock 'n' Roll)
Hyden, Steven
Hardcover
Don't Buy What I'm Selling: On Breaking Up with Advertising and Finally Learning to Love My Whole, Fat Self
Chekowsky, Lu
Hardcover
From Here to the Great Unknown: Oprah's Book Club: A Memoir
Presley, Lisa Marie
Keough, Riley
Paperback
Martin Scorsese All the Films: The Story Behind Every Movie, Episode, and Short
Schaller, Nicolas
Bousquet, Olivier
Devillard, Arnaud
Hardcover
Jess and Norma: A Lifetime of Laughter and Our Unbreakable Bond
Asquith, Jessica
Burton, Norma
Paperback
The Extended Universe: How Disney Killed the Movies and Took Over the World
Osterweil, Vicky
Hardcover
House of Psychotic Women: Expanded Edition: An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Films
Janisse, Kier-La
Paperback
Book Meets World: The Definitive Inside Story of the Hit Sitcom Boy Meets World
Friedle, Will
Fishel, Danielle
Strong, Rider
Hardcover
Lucas Wars: The True Story of George Lucas and the Creation of Star Wars
Roche, Renaud
Hopman, Laurent
Hardcover
The Way Love Goes: A Guide to Building a "Beaurtiful" and Everlasting Relationship
Da Brat &. Judy
Hardcover
Every Time a Bell Rings: The Legacy of It's a Wonderful Life, America's Most Beloved Holiday Film
St James, Emily
Theisen, Lauren
Hardcover
Funny Business: The Old-School Wedding Crashers and Knocked-Up Virgins Who Changed Comedy Forever
Singer, Matt
Hardcover
Love Johnny Carson: One Obsessive Fan's Journey to Find the Genius Behind the Legend
Malkoff, Mark
Hardcover
As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of the Princess Bride
Layden, Joe
Elwes, Cary
Paperback
Holy Disruptor: Shattering the Shiny Facade by Getting Louder with the Truth
King, Amy Duggar
Hardcover
Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Dolly Parton: Country Wisdom for Life's Little Challenges
Sharaf, Juliana
Hardcover
Infinite Steps: Thirty-Three Dancers and Their Lives in Ballet
Larsen, Gavin
Schiavone, Gene
Paperback
The Love Producer: My Unscripted Journey from a Reality TV Career to My Own Happily Ever After
Laplaca, Julie
Paperback
100 Rules for Living to 100: An Optimist's Guide to a Happy Life (Large Print Edition)
Van Dyke, Dick
Hardcover
It's Not Easy Bein' Me: A Lifetime of No Respect But Plenty of Sex and Drugs
Dangerfield, Rodney
Paperback
The Colonel and the King: Tom Parker, Elvis Presley, and the Partnership That Rocked the World
Guralnick, Peter
Hardcover