Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America

(Paperback)

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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 worlds most influential media empires. Featuring exclusive interviews with more than 150 people who witnessed, aided, and suffered from his ascent.

Even if youve never watched a minute of professional wrestling, you are living in Vince McMahons 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. McMahona 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 Trumps closest friendsand Trumps experiences as a performer in McMahons programming were, in many ways, a dress rehearsal for the 45th Presidents campaigns and presidency. McMahon and his wife, Linda, are major Republican donors. Linda was in Trumps 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 McMahons 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).

Reviews

"If you're vaguely interested in a ludicrously buff mogul who booked himself to beat God in a wrestling match, or just interested in the definitive book on America's last truly riveting carny showman, this is a story that forces you to turn the page. But this book isn't just about Vince McMahon, the ringmaster. It's about his circus of abused elephants, magicians, musclemen dipped in bleach, and acrobats who fall to their death, a "family business" which turned into the bloodiest version of Succession."--The Spectator
"A vivid, warts-and-all portrait of the man behind WrestleMania--and much of the worst of contemporary politics."--Kirkus
"This revelatory biography of Vince McMahon argues convincingly that pro wrestling can explain contemporary America. It's a knockout."
--Publishers Weekly, Starred review
"RINGMASTER examines how seemingly innocuous pastimes like professional wrestling have shaped American culture and warped it beyond measure. In Abraham Riesman's telling, Vince McMahon emerges as a powerful figure of terrifying complexity, his rise and fall in lockstep with the country's. RINGMASTER brilliantly pulls back the curtain of kayfabe to reveal the pulsating reality underneath--and how the lines, once blurred, can never be separated again."--Sarah Weinman, bestselling author of The Real Lolita and Scoundrel
"To understand what's at the heart of carny culture is to understand what's at the heart of a huge swath of the American experience. As Abraham Riesman demonstrates in this highly readable, sharp and compelling book, professional wrestling embodies this idea both on screen and off, in the arenas and in the conference rooms. This is a serious work about the legacy of confidence games, abandonment, abuse and power. Whether or not you are a lifelong wrestling mark like me, Ringmaster is essential reading."--Brian Koppelman, cocreator of Billions and cowriter of Rounders
"Ringmaster is riveting, essential reading even if, like me, you have no taste for professional wrestling. All you need is an appetite for good stories of how the best--which is to say, the worst--conmen get over. Follow Abraham Riesman through that looking glass, and you even may creep closer to understanding how the U.S. managed to make one president."--Rick Perlstein, New York Times bestselling author of Nixonland and Reaganland
"No faking! Ringmaster is one of the best biographies I've read in years -- 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
"Abraham Riesman has given us a fascinating, rigorously researched account of the life and times of the ultimate ringmaster, Vince McMahon. This is the story of how the world of professional wrestling has become our world. The rules of the game are now so gamed in American politics and daily life that the real, if ever there was a real, has gone up in a puff of hyperbolic smoke-and-mirrors. Ringmaster helps us to see how we got to this point. How we get ourselves out of it remains an open question." --Sharon Mazer, author of Professional Wrestling: Sport and Spectacle
"Though it's hard to pinpoint the date, one morning wrestling fans like myself woke up and realized the pastime that had largely defined our youths and imaginations had jumped the firewall and, somehow, some way, began infecting the rest of the world. What Abraham Riesman has done here is invite readers to see that fundamental and disturbing truth, to wrestle with just how we've come to live in this bizarre un-reality, and possibly begin sorting through the wreckage. An absolute triumph. As must-read as must-read can get." --Jared Yates Sexton, author of The Midnight Kingdom: A History of Power, Paranoia, and the Coming Crisis

Author Bio

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.