ON STREET FIGHTING

Bradley’s debut book mixes personal stories with tips for surviving in a knockdown world of impromptu brawls.

From 1993 to 2013, the author was a street fighter—part of what he defines as a “class of individuals, primarily male, primarily ages 18–30” who “engage in violent altercations on a regular basis for various purposes, generally to establish dominance or end a disagreement.” He offers two causes for his immersion in this brutal subculture: a childhood marred by physical and emotional abuse, followed by a stint in the U.S. Army overseas. When he got out of the military, he says, he was a “dangerous sociopath” who’d learned to channel his rage into combat. He also battled drug addictionand endured homelessness and jail time; as a result, he has compelling stories, which he relates here. Bradley also offers some practical advice for those who find themselves in similar circumstances; for example, he says that after a fight, one should leave the location immediately, whether one wins or loses. The author’s prose is simple and direct, which fits with the book’s how-to presentation; in a chapter titled “Grooming Witnesses,” for instance, Bradley writes, “It really helps to have a crowd on your side. The best way to get a crowd on your side is to have them begin on your side….I’ve had a whole bar swearing to the cops that the other guy started it just because I was a regular and he was not.” The author makes it clear that he doesn’t advocate for to others rush out in search of the world that he left behind: “I’m no longer the man in this book,” he writes early on. “I’m the man that was once that man.” At one point, however, he still threatens graphic violence to some of his enemies; there’s also an entire chapter about “how (and why)” to have sex with strippers. Fans of transgressive literature will undoubtedly be intrigued by such sections, but others may find the author’s reflections too misanthropic to be enjoyable.

An unfiltered and often disturbing treatise on male violence.