OOYL Book Club: February Selection

Ringmaster by Josephine Riesman

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You guys! And girls! And themfriends! Our first Book Club was a huge success, if I do say so myself (if you attended, feel free to disagree with me in the comments lol). Thank you so much to everyone who is helping build the OOYL community into something thriving and lovely. I couldn't do any of this without you all being here with me.

I’m so excited to announce our selection for February: Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America by Josephine Riesman.

Josie is one of my favorite narrative non-fiction authors and she does an incredible job laying out the ways Vince McMahon’s reign at WWE helped shape and create the political moment we are currently in. I cited her heavily in my recent piece on how Trump leveraged combat sports to win the presidency (again).

From the book’s description:

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).

Our Zoom event will be on Sunday, March 2nd at 1 PM ET/10 AM PT. Josie will be joining us for that conversation, which is only open to paid subscribers. The conversation will be recorded and sent out to everyone who registered for the event, so you can watch it even if you can’t join us live.

Photo courtesy of Josie Riesman

A few days before our Zoom event, I’ll send out another email with the link to the event, and the comments section of that post will be open to discussion of the book for people who want to chat about it beforehand. I’ll also be compiling a companion syllabus of additional reading for folks who are interested and want to continue exploring topics covered by our book selections.

We did a more formal Zoom webinar format for HAIL MARY and I may try a more casual setup for RINGMASTER, using a traditional Zoom room instead of a panel event, to see if that works better for folks. Thanks for helping me figure out the best way to organize these events and community spaces.

Access to the Zoom event requires registration. You can register for our RINGMASTER BOOK CLUB DISCUSSION at the link below: