How Pro Wrestling Reflects and Defines American CultureRandy Shawbyline‚ Mar. 22‚ 2007Professional wrestling is not covered in the daily newspaper or on television news, and is officially “entertainment” rather than sport---yet it is a multi-billion dollar industry that has been the most watched show on cable television over the past two decades. Regardless of whether you like or hate professional wrestling, or have never watched it, one concludes after reading Irv Muchnick’s new book that one cannot understand America without understanding the massive popularity of wrestling. Wrestling foreshadowed baseball’s use of steroids, the NFL’s dangerous reliance on pain reducing drugs, and its matches often mirror American attitudes toward race, class and patriotism. Despite wrestling’s grip on American society, nobody had written a book clearly laying out this connection until Muchnick’s recently released, Wrestling Babylon. |