Professor Thomas Andrew Green (Anthropology, Texas A&M University) has been a critical figure in the promotion of the academic study of the martial arts. Many readers will already be familiar with his edited works (along with Joseph Svinth) including Martial Arts in the Modern World (Praeger, 2003) and Martial Arts of the World: An Encyclopedia of History and Innovation (ABC-Clio, 2010). His research and writing covers a number of important topics including the role and function of folklore in the martial arts, African American vernacular martial arts traditions and the emergence and survival of Meihuaquan (Plum Blossom Boxing) in northern China.