Smack2k Posted December 29, 2015 Report Share Posted December 29, 2015 Are there any books that have some good detail on Professional Wrestling from 1900 - 1947 that go over some of the promotional wars, pacts, Trusts, etc.. as well as back stories on the men? I have a read a ton about the era, but always looking for more on it. The National Wrestling Alliance book by Tim Hornbaker really takes care of that NWA History, but I am concerned now with the early 1900s and Hackenschmidt / Gotch / Jenkins / etc.. One World Champion era into the era of the teens / twenties / thirites with a bunch of different champions (AWA / NWA / etc..) / the original NWA (National Wrestling Association) history / into the formation of the Alliance? Of particular interest is the era of the teens - thirties with the AWA / NWA / other regional "World Champions" and histories of all those regions / promotions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrew79 Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 Try Shooters by Jonathan Snowden. As the title says, it focuses on the shooters in wrestling, but it's a good read on the early US wrestling scene and does cover the likes of Gotch and Hackenschmidt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 I was pretty disappointed by Shooters. You'd be better off picking up some back issues of the WON that cover that era. Book didn't go much beyond the surface and was poorly edited. JMTC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Following Contest Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 Hornbaker's new book "Capitol Revolution" does a great job detailing wrestling in the northeast from 1880-1984. It pays particular attention to the period before the formation of the NWA and the coexistence/competition between McMahon and the cartel. Highly recommended. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabe Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 Hornbaker's new book "Capitol Revolution" does a great job detailing wrestling in the northeast from 1880-1984. It pays particular attention to the period before the formation of the NWA and the coexistence/competition between McMahon and the cartel. Highly recommended. Great book. Worst title, description, and cover ever. Supposed to talk about the WWF and Tim spends 20% of the book on it. And stops in January 1984. But, yeah, the early stuff is great. Lot of the same material as the NWA book, only much better editing and focus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingus Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 Lou Thesz's book is a must-mention. It's highly opinionated, but it serves as a pretty good primer for wrestling in the first half of the 20th century. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smack2k Posted December 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 I ordered the Capital Revolution Book, really looking forward to it. Picked up Thesz book shooter at used book store yesterday, so looking forward to that one as well.. Also gonna pick up a copy of Fall Guys - Barnums of Bounce if I can find it. From 1937, looks to be a good bit of detail on inner workings of that period. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 Nice, looking forward to another review of Capital Revolution. May have to check that one out. From what I've heard there are some (maybe more than some) issues of accuracy in Fall Guys, but given when it was written and the subject matter, that's to be expected. The entire period is shrouded in a lot of tales that we're now generations removed from without many resources to turn to for verification. At a minimum it should provide an interesting look at figure from the time even if it requires keeping an eyebrow raised throughout. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingliam Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 Would it be worth picking up both the NWA and the Capitol Revolution book? Or is the crossover fairly significant? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indikator Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 Capitol Revolution is NYC-centric, so the crossover isn't too strong and it might even help you to put things into perspective. With wrestling history you have to piece together a shitload of things, don't expect a narrative to fulfill all your needs in that regard. You will learn enough just going through the Ohio archive at prowrestlinghistory.com for instance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 I'm 20% into the Revolution book and have really enjoyed the Jess McMahon stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Jackson Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 Would it be worth picking up both the NWA and the Capitol Revolution book? Or is the crossover fairly significant? I recommend both, but some do find Hornbaker's prose better suited for a textbook Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.S. Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 Also gonna pick up a copy of Fall Guys - Barnums of Bounce if I can find it. From 1937, looks to be a good bit of detail on inner workings of that period. If you don't mind ebooks, it's $5 on Kindle last time I checked. I believe it was even formatted and uploaded by someone here, but I could be wrong on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabe Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 Would it be worth picking up both the NWA and the Capitol Revolution book? Or is the crossover fairly significant?It felt like a lot of crossover to me but Capitol is written so much better that I didn't mind it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingliam Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 Would it be worth picking up both the NWA and the Capitol Revolution book? Or is the crossover fairly significant?It felt like a lot of crossover to me but Capitol is written so much better that I didn't mind it. Yeah, I guess I'm thinking that I pick up Capitol rather than the NWA book as a taster of what he does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victory Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 I just started reading the Mildred Burke book yesterday. So far they seem to cover the early years of early women's wrestling decently. Probably not too many other books on the subject matter to begin with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smack2k Posted December 31, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2015 To me, the NWA book was phenominal. Yeah, it bounced around, but man it was great in terms of history and the building and creation of the NWA, as well as the many aspects controlled by them and some of the more famous moments..I was and am a huge fan and consider it the best wrestling book I have ever read. Once the Capital Sports book gets here, I will dig in... I really really enjoy Hornbaker, even all his articles on legacyofwrestling.com are hard to put down due to their historical content and overall stories being told. I found the 4.99 Fall Guys book and am gonna download it...really looking forward to it as some other authors I have read history articles by (Steve Yohe for one) consider it a must have and a HUGE companion to everything going forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Jackson Posted December 31, 2015 Report Share Posted December 31, 2015 I just started reading the Mildred Burke book yesterday. So far they seem to cover the early years of early women's wrestling decently. Probably not too many other books on the subject matter to begin with. Yes, that is a great book. In a similar vein and equally as good is the Gorgeous George biography from 2008 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smack2k Posted December 31, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2015 Anyway anyone knows to get a hold of the three Max Jacobs papers? Buddy Rogers and the Art of Sequencing? - I have this one on PDF Milo and the Halitosis Kid The Role Of the Promoter in Professional Wrestling The latter two I would definately LOVE to find and read as I know the Milo one is over 300 pages and a TON of information from this era. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted December 31, 2015 Report Share Posted December 31, 2015 I ordered the Capital Revolution Book, really looking forward to it. Picked up Thesz book shooter at used book store yesterday, so looking forward to that one as well.. Also gonna pick up a copy of Fall Guys - Barnums of Bounce if I can find it. From 1937, looks to be a good bit of detail on inner workings of that period. I did an ebook of Fall Guys. Can be purchased from the Kindle Store or on PayHip (PayHip gets you both Kindle and ePub versions plus I get a bigger cut). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingliam Posted December 31, 2015 Report Share Posted December 31, 2015 I ordered the Capital Revolution Book, really looking forward to it. Picked up Thesz book shooter at used book store yesterday, so looking forward to that one as well.. Also gonna pick up a copy of Fall Guys - Barnums of Bounce if I can find it. From 1937, looks to be a good bit of detail on inner workings of that period. I did an ebook of Fall Guys. Can be purchased from the Kindle Store or on PayHip (PayHip gets you both Kindle and ePub versions plus I get a bigger cut). Purchased. Thanks for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indikator Posted December 31, 2015 Report Share Posted December 31, 2015 I just started reading the Mildred Burke book yesterday. So far they seem to cover the early years of early women's wrestling decently. Probably not too many other books on the subject matter to begin with. I'm not the biggest fan of the book. A book about Charley Fox ( http://www.thewrestlingcop.com/ ) was pretty much everything I hoped the Burke book to be. I'm still trying to figure out the circuits Mildred worked, her career record (done by Vance Nevada and that Jeff Leen) will hopefully help us. It's not easy to locate booking offices based on results often enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smack2k Posted December 31, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2015 I ordered the Capital Revolution Book, really looking forward to it. Picked up Thesz book shooter at used book store yesterday, so looking forward to that one as well.. Also gonna pick up a copy of Fall Guys - Barnums of Bounce if I can find it. From 1937, looks to be a good bit of detail on inner workings of that period. I did an ebook of Fall Guys. Can be purchased from the Kindle Store or on PayHip (PayHip gets you both Kindle and ePub versions plus I get a bigger cut). Thanks Bix, will pick it up from PayHip.. Is there a code or anything that needs put in for you to get your cut? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Posted December 31, 2015 Report Share Posted December 31, 2015 I remember glancing at From Wrestling To Rassling at my college library. Covers the subject matter, but I think it's way, way out of print. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted December 31, 2015 Report Share Posted December 31, 2015 I ordered the Capital Revolution Book, really looking forward to it. Picked up Thesz book shooter at used book store yesterday, so looking forward to that one as well.. Also gonna pick up a copy of Fall Guys - Barnums of Bounce if I can find it. From 1937, looks to be a good bit of detail on inner workings of that period. I did an ebook of Fall Guys. Can be purchased from the Kindle Store or on PayHip (PayHip gets you both Kindle and ePub versions plus I get a bigger cut). Thanks Bix, will pick it up from PayHip.. Is there a code or anything that needs put in for you to get your cut? Nah, it's my PayHip listing, the way they work, you're actually PayPal-ing me directly and PayHip just takes a small cut. Cool service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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