General Karate books

[Hansson]

Is there any good, modern (or sort of anyway) general karate books out there that gives a view of 1) the history behind karate, 2) the different styles and maybe 3) and overview of the basic techniques and katas?

I'm mainly interested in the okinawan and japanese styles, not the kenpo stuff.

 

[Kempojujutsu]

Okinawan Karate by Mark Bishop
Here is a good book on the history of Okinawan Karate. It doesn't go over techniques or kata's, but it does talk about what kata's each style does. It also doesn't talk about Japanese karate either.
Bob
:asian:

 

[arnisador]

Look also at stuff by Patrick McCarthy and Richard Kim.

 

[Taiji Rebel]

The History Of Karate And The Masters Who Made It by Mark I. Cramer is a great read. It fleshes out the story as told in most dojos. Things really start to get fun when you begin looking into the history of the arts and their technical applications. Cross-referencing different martial arts is a lot easier nowadays. Take the time to investigate the different arts and you will soon see the similarities in the basic body structures used👍