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Daniele Bolelli is an Italian writer, martial artist, and university professor. He is the author of On the Warrior's Path one of the modern classics on the philosophy of martial arts.

Personal Life

Bolelli was born in Milan, Italy, in a family of writers. His father, Franco Bolelli, is one of the most influential modern Italian philosophers. His mother, Gloria, is the author of four books and a freelance journalist. After high school, Bolelli moved to Los Angeles, where he began attending Santa Monica College. He later graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in Anthopology, and continued his graduate work at UCLA (in American Indian Studies), CSULB (History) and Cardiff University (History.) He currently lives in the Los Angeles area with his wife and child.

Writing

When he was only 20 years old, Bolelli co-authored his first book Mitologie Felici, which was published in Italy. He later co-authored two more books in Italy Starship, and Frontiere.His first solo book, La Tenera Arte del Guerriero, was published when Bolelli was 22 years old. This work, which is a philosophical exploration of the martial arts, went on to become a cult classic in Italy even outside the confines of martial arts circles. Bolelli later translated it into English and added three additional chapters. The end result was published in the United States in 2003 under the title On the Warrior's Path. Two new chapters were later added for a second edition published in 2008. A Russian edition of On the Warrior's Path is scheduled to be published soon.In addition to continuing to write for several magazines, Bolelli is currently writing a book on comparative religionsSome of the most influential thinkers to have affected his world view include Tom Robbins, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ikkyu Sojun, Thomas Paine, Henry David Thoreau, Lao Tzu, and Heraclitus.

Teaching Career

Bolelli regularly teaches at several colleges and universities in Southern California. Unlike most scholars who tend to specialize in one particular field of knowledge, Bolelli adopts a "renaissance" man-approach to teaching that has led him to lecture for very diverse departments such as History, Social Sciences, American Indian Studies, Asian American Studies, and World Arts and Cultures. The very wide range of subjects he teaches include American Indian history and philosophy, history of the United States, world religions, history of ancient Rome, history and philosophy of martial arts, the ethnic experience in the United States, world history, plus several courses on the relationship between cinema and history. Perhaps even more peculiar than his unusually extensive repertoire is Bolelli's lecturing style. Much like his writing, in fact, his lecturing style combines discussions of complex, deep subjects with much humor and "street lingo." For this reason, he has been defined as "half stand up comedian and half Zen master." This odd mix has made him extremely popular among students.

Martial Arts

Bolelli has trained in several styles of martial arts including kung fu san soo, taijiquan, baguazhang, xingyiquan, submission wrestling, Brazilian jiujitsu, boxing, and judo. He holds a fourth degree black belt in kung fu san soo--a style that he has taught for several years at UCLA's John Wooden Center. Bolelli also coached and fought professionally in mixed martial arts (MMA). His MMA role models are Genki Sudo, Evan Tanner, Rumina Sato and Kazushi Sakuraba.

References

This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Daniele Bolelli", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0