Ringmaster, Abraham Josephine Riesman
Ringmaster, Abraham Josephine Riesman
6 Rating(s)
List: $29.99 | Sale: $21.00
Club: $14.99

Ringmaster
Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America

Author: Abraham Josephine Riesman

Narrator: Alyss Weissglass

Unabridged: 15 hr 11 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/28/2023


Synopsis

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“Riveting, essential reading.” —Rick Perlstein, author of Reaganland

This definitive biography of Vince McMahon, former WWE chairman and CEO, is “riveting, essential reading” (Rick Perlstein, New York Times bestselling author) as it charts his rise from rural poverty to the throne of one of the world’s most influential media empires. Featuring exclusive interviews with more than 150 people who witnessed, aided, and suffered from his ascent.

Even if you’ve never watched a minute of professional wrestling, you are living in Vince McMahon’s world.

In his four decades as the defining figure of American pro wrestling, McMahon was the man behind Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, John Cena, Dave Bautista, Bret “The Hitman” Hart, and Hulk Hogan, to name just a few of the mega-stars who owe him their careers. For more than twenty-five years, he has also been a performer in his own show, acting as the diabolical “Mr. McMahon”—a figure who may have more in common with the real Vince than he would care to admit.

Just as importantly, McMahon is one of Donald Trump’s closest friends—and Trump’s experiences as a performer in McMahon’s programming were, in many ways, a dress rehearsal for the 45th President’s campaigns and presidency. McMahon and his wife, Linda, are major Republican donors. Linda was in Trump’s cabinet. McMahon makes deals with the Saudi government worth hundreds of millions of dollars. And for generations of people who have watched wrestling, he has been a defining cultural force and has helped foment “the worst of contemporary politics” (Kirkus Reviews).

Ringmaster built on exclusive interviews with more than 150 people, from McMahon’s childhood friends to those who accuse him of destroying their lives. “Smart, entertaining, impressively reported, and beautifully written. Wrestling fans will devour it, but everyone who wants to better understand this crazy country and one of its truly original characters ought to read it” (Jonathan Eig, author of Ali: A Life).

About Abraham Josephine Riesman

Abraham Josephine Riesman is a journalist and essayist, as well as the author of the biographies Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America and True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee. She was a longtime staffer at New York magazine and its culture site, Vulture, and her work has also appeared in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, VICE, The New Republic, and elsewhere. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island, with her spouse and their cats.  


Reviews

Goodreads review by Cory

Not a bad book but doesn’t really bring much new info to the table. Anyone who follows wrestling would know this story very well already. Much detail is given to wrestling story lines and not Vince behind the scenes. A good summary of what is publicly known about Vince McMahon. But we still wait for......more

Goodreads review by Dan

Like many others, I found my way into Wrestling fandom in the aftermath of the massive publicity generated by the first Wrestlemania. I had previously looked down my nose at Wrestling as being some ridiculous distraction that idiots and hillbillies thought was real. But the relentless attention tha......more

Goodreads review by Marty

For the past few years, Abraham Josephine Riesman has been one of my favorite writers in the world of pop culture. Between their [always great *Vulture* articles] and their fantastic Stan Lee book, *[True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee]*, I know that when Riesman writes something, I need to......more