Ringmaster
Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America
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Ringmaster
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Narrated by:
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Alyss Weissglass
About this listen
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).
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What listeners say about Ringmaster
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Ian Thomas
- 19-05-24
Meh
There’s a few things I didn’t know listening to this which surprised me. However, just to make sure the casual listener knows Vince is bad, let’s mention Donald Trump at every opportunity
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Paul Riley
- 08-04-23
So Close
The first half of this book is a stunning examination of Vince's rise to power, framed as a heel background story and neatly showing the differences between Vince's telling of his own story (sometimes more than one version) and other people telling Vince's story. As a backdrop to "the unmaking of America," it is stunning. The second part of the book turns to a mildly repentant love letter to the Attitude Era. And I get it, I really do. The Attitude Era was my brief love affair with WWE and it was nice to relive it, painful to share the repentance for the people who got hurt for my enjoyment. But it does lose the thread that ties wrestling to politics and events in the rest of the world (with some exceptions). And this means that we come back to that thread in a single chapter at the end that covers a good 20-year span. And, to start and end at "the end of the world" (pandemic lockdowns) without giving a single nod to AEW seems odd. That said, pacing issues aside, this is well written and beautifully narrated (hats off to Alyss) and very worth a listen, particularly for non-wrestling fans. For Me, I'd like to see another book really digging into the 21st century, Vince's monopoly, the politics, the connections to Trump, the New World Kayfabe, AEW riding an opportunity and competing by not competing (except financially). Just to complete the promise of this book.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- mr
- 11-06-23
An excellent book
I listened to this because I was incredibly impressed with Riesman’s previous book, a biography of Stan Lee that used meticulous research and strikingly insightful and nuanced writing to cut through the fog of self-mythology and fan speculation that surrounds that extremely divisive figure.
Well, Reisman has done it again.
As a comics fan who’s never been into wrestling, I didn’t have the context for McMahon that I did for Lee, but it’s clear from the sheer breadth of sources both primary and secondary that the author employs that this book is just as painstakingly researched, and that the subject themself is not only just as influential on modern culture, but equally as shrouded in manufactured legend and legitimate controversy.
I absolutely loved this book, and would heartily recommend it to anyone- with the only caveat being that if you’re personally invested in the obvious fictions men like Lee and McMahon cultivate about themselves to craft their personal brands, then you should know that Reisman isn’t going to give you that. This is a book about the truth, and is all the more fascinating for it.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mr. Psj Rusling
- 09-04-23
Great book just terrible narrator
Great book but a terrible narrator, if a sequel needs a new narrator just awful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Denis Clohessy
- 03-05-23
No new insights
Nothing new for the hardcore fan, narrators pronunciation of certain names left a lot to be desired
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Stu
- 05-04-23
Was expecting more
Very much the same stuff. Was hoping for a bit more. Narrator wasn't great but did improve through the course but it was very clear they had little to no wrestling knowledge, so some of the mispronounced names was a little jarring.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 22-10-24
Disappointed but not surprised
Wrestling fans will not find anything new in here beyond a look at McMahon's early life, though those unfamiliar with the WWE/Vince will probably get a lot more out of it.
"The Unmaking of America" is a bit of a stretch, it's really too laser focussed on the WWE to explore what that really means.
The Netflix documentary covers much the same ground and if you've seen that, you could probably skip this.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Thornwood
- 23-08-24
I Knew most of this but…
I feel for non-wrestling fans, this will feel like something so outrageously bonkers they won’t want to put down, but to a wrestling fan who knows all these stories inside and out, it’ll get dull. It’s neatly crafted into a biopsy of McMahon throughout the decades but it doesn’t gain new ground into the controversies surrounding him. The most gripped I was of the book was near the end when it got into the personal ties with Trump, but other than that, it was a chore as I just kept saying to myself “Yup, know that.”
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Sheila J
- 29-03-23
Disappointing
Offers nothing new on the subject that isn't already widely known. Terrible narrator clearly doesn't follow wrestling.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Lee McGreavy
- 31-10-24
Ruined by politics
Good insights on Vince’s early life that I didn’t know.
However this book is littered with the authors own political idealisms and made me want to turn off at numerous points. You don’t like Trump, we get it. Yawn.
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