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mattdube 's review for:
Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America
by Abraham Riesman
I'm not sure what I expected from this book-- I've read a couple memoirs from WWE wrestlers and really enjoyed them. I also kind of felt like McMahon was a heel even when I was watching Saturday morning shows in the 80s. This book, with its bold subtitle, promised something more substantial, and it's a longish book..
But I felt like, as much as it was a sharp and occasionally eye popping social history (some of the details are WILD), the critique or whatever was kind of half-baked- what is the unmaking of America? Is McMahon an instigator or an index of what's already happening?
I felt, too, that for all the rocks Reisman turns over, he doesn't really find much-- his regular claim that we don't know what happened with Jimmy Snuka or otherwise kind of rings false, or at least that he should have pushed his investigation harder. Maybe it's a lack of original reporting? But somehow this felt more gossipy than researched, and that left me feeling like this isn't the book it could be, in spite of the copious dirty laundry.
I don't want to read too much into minor elements, but the fact that major sections of the book are composed of chapters with the same title (suck it parts 1-4, getting over 1-3) suggests to me that maybe the argument needs to be developed more fully, that so far it's not quite mapped out enough.
But I felt like, as much as it was a sharp and occasionally eye popping social history (some of the details are WILD), the critique or whatever was kind of half-baked- what is the unmaking of America? Is McMahon an instigator or an index of what's already happening?
I felt, too, that for all the rocks Reisman turns over, he doesn't really find much-- his regular claim that we don't know what happened with Jimmy Snuka or otherwise kind of rings false, or at least that he should have pushed his investigation harder. Maybe it's a lack of original reporting? But somehow this felt more gossipy than researched, and that left me feeling like this isn't the book it could be, in spite of the copious dirty laundry.
I don't want to read too much into minor elements, but the fact that major sections of the book are composed of chapters with the same title (suck it parts 1-4, getting over 1-3) suggests to me that maybe the argument needs to be developed more fully, that so far it's not quite mapped out enough.