Ballyhoo! cover art

Ballyhoo!

The Roughhousers, Con Artists, and Wildmen Who Invented Professional Wrestling (Sports and American Culture)

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Ballyhoo!

By: Jon Langmead
Narrated by: Kirk Winkler
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About this listen

Ballyhoo! The Roughhousers, Con Artists, and Wildmen Who Invented Professional Wrestling is a history of professional wrestling’s formative period in the U.S., from roughly 1874 to 1941, and the contested interplay of wrestlers and promoters who built the “sport” as we know it. During this period, the major conventions that would define wrestling to the present day were perfected and codified, as wrestling morphed from a rough sport practiced on farms and at town gatherings to melodramatic mass entertainment that reliably drew large crowds in cities across the nation.

The narrative uses the life and career of Jack Curley—a boxing promoter whose fortune took a turn for the better when he began promoting wrestling matches—as a compass as it charts the development of wrestling. By the late 1910s, Curley’s shows were selling out Madison Square Garden monthly. Ballyhoo chronicles his competition with the other promoters, as well as the lives of colorful athletes like “Strangler” Ed Lewis, Frank Gotch, the “Masked Marvel,” Jim Londos, “Gorgeous George” Wagner, “Farmer” Martin Burns, and “Dynamite” Gus Sonnenberg.

The book is published by University of Missouri Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

©2023 The Curators of the University of Missouri (P)2024 Redwood Audiobooks Americas Combat Sports & Self-Defense Sports History United States Wrestling Sports Combat Sports Boxing

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Critic reviews

"A page-turning cultural history..." (Amy Reading, author of The Mark Inside)

“A meticulously detailed, gloriously colorful, continuously gripping account of a master showman and his cohorts...” (Jeff Leen, author of The Queen of the Ring)

“Langmead has crafted a history of a sport (or is it entertainment?) that feels definitive and engrossing." (Booklist)
All stars
Most relevant
The lack of any inflection or interest in this narrator kills this dead.

But the book and read the amazing stories

Great Stories - Awful Narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Well researched and well presented. Easy to follow and enjoyable. I would like another as a progression.

Nice to hear the beginning.

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