Cross Face Chicken Wing Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 Even though he has only written about two subjects, Robert Caro is regarded as one of the greatest biographers in history. His first book, The Power Broker, chronicles Robert Moses and his role in shaping 20th century New York City. After The Power Broker was published, Caro has spent the rest of his life, about 40 years, chronicling former president Lyndon Johnson. When he started his work on Johnson, he moved to Johnson's home town to get a better sense of where his subject came from and to dig under every rock he could think of for information. He's published four volumes of his Johnson biography so far, with the fifth and final volume supposedly coming in a year or two. Caro has dedicated his entire life to covering his subjects and it shows in his exahustive and well-written work. Let's say Caro publishes the last volume of his Johnson biography and calls a news conference to announce his next subject. The gathering media speculates that maybe Caro will tackle Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, or perhaps even Bill Clinton. The world can't wait to find out which former president or historical figure Caro will dedicate the next phase of life to covering. Caro, an aging and unimposing fellow, steps to the microphone, adjusts his black-rimmed glasses against the flash of the photographer's cameras, clears his throat, and announces that he's going to dedicate his next work to a figure from the world of professional wrestling. Everybody laughs, then stops laughing and begins crying once they realize that Caro, winner of multiple Pulitzer Prizes, is serious. Who would you want Caro to profile? Remember, this will be the wrestling biography to end all wrestling biographies. Caro will literally discover and tell us anything and everything about this wrestling figure's life. And he will do it with a writing and reporting style that is second to none. The answer seems easy at first: Vince McMahon. By profiling McMahon, we'll probably get as close to a complete history of wrestling as we could get. Caro's works on Moses and Johnson don't only feature stories and information on his main subjects. They also include anectdotes and insight into the events and people that shaped his main subjects. For example, JFK, Hubert Humphrey and election rigging are covered extensively in Caro's books on Johnson. I'm sure we'd get plenty of insight into other wrestling territories and personalities if Caro tackled McMahon. But do we really want to know more about McMahon? I mean, haven't we heard enough already? Sure, it'd be nice to have some credibility behind the stories, and I'm sure there'd be plenty of new information uncovered, but I'm already burned out on McMahon. Terry Funk would be an interesting study. Yes, there's been plenty of documentary type of stuff done on Funk, but most of it focuses on the crazy old man that continues working in wrestling part of Terry's story. You could probably get a damn good history of wrestling, and new information about Terry, if you do an exhaustive bio that goes beyond the crazy old man aspect. Baba and Inoki would also be great. Caro documenting one or both of these two while educating us about the history of Japanese wrestling would be amazing. Mick Foley and Bret Hart are great stories. But both already have autobiographies that are well-written and seem to tell mostly complete stories (whereas Terry's is not well-written and doesn't tell a complete story). In the end, I'd probably still pick McMahon, but I'll stop rambling for now and see who others would choose. When thinking about this, remember that this book will be written by a Pulitzer Prize winner. It's not going to be a a simple rehash of old wrestling observers or a piece of work that glosses over important events. It's also going to be well-written -- no run-on sentences and disjointed prose. It's going to be the real deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted January 19, 2013 Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 I've read all 5 of Caro's books, and the 4 on LBJ are the 4 greatest books I've ever read. So great that I might be disappointed if he were to write on wrestling. For these purposes though, there are probably only a few candidates. Vince is obvious. Perhaps Rikidozan because he would undoubtedly use that to sprinboard into Baba and Inoki, either of whom would also make great subjects. Lou Thesz might also make a great candidate as you could branch that out in a number of directions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted January 19, 2013 Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 If Vince and Flair are the most obvious candidates, the next in line would probably be Jack Victory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted January 19, 2013 Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 Vince and Hogan are the obvious candidates. I would love to see a book on Verne Gagne like this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cross Face Chicken Wing Posted January 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 Vince and Hogan are the obvious candidates. I would love to see a book on Verne Gagne like this Verne would be great. There would would be clear story arc with triumphs, tragedies, victories, defeats, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Gennarelli Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 Vince Jr. would be a great topic. Verne would too. I'd add Farhat to the list. Maybe even Sam Muchnick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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