Review: Hart Strings By Julie Hart

Review: Hart Strings: My Life With Bret and the Hart Family
Julie Hart
Tightrope Books, 2013
Paperback, Ebook

As ex-wife of Bret "The Hitman" Hart, Julie Hart is in a great position to provide some insight into some very interesting areas such as the Montreal Screwjob, the death of Owen Hart, the whole Hart clan or how the wrestling industry directly affects the spouse and children of its top stars. While she certainly touches on these - some are a mere grazing - Hart's book is far more about the life of a woman who has at times battled and overcome many obstacles in her life.

While her perseverance  and candour are both admirable - Hart comes across as a credible and strong person - the choices she  (or her editors / collaborators) made about what to include in and what to omit

Review: The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams By Greg Oliver and Steven Johnson

Review: The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams
Greg Oliver and Steven Johnson, Bobby Eaton (Foreword)
ECW Press, 2005
Paperback, Ebook

Oliver and Johnson have collaborated to write a comprehensive, entertaining and enlightening book about the most notable tag team wrestlers of the 20th century.  Through extensive research, which includes interviews with many of the featured personalities, their family members and friends, Oliver and Johnson excellently chronicle the careers of those who made their mark through tag team excellence.

The book is broken into chapters based on the eras in which the profiled tag teams were most prominent. Each chapter is a broad strokes picture of the North American tag team division during a particular time frame.  Each profile

Review: Mysteries of Wrestling: Solved By Adam Kleinberg and Adam Nudelman

Review: Mysteries Of Wrestling: Solved

Adam Kleinberg and Adam Nudelman, ECW Press, 2005

Paperback, Ebook

Adam Kleinberg and Adam Nudelman's Mysteries of Wrestling: Solved is a humorous and informative look at some of wrestling's most often asked questions.  Via interviews with current and past wrestling personalities, the pair attempt to get the answer to headscratchers like "Did the Kliq Control Wrestling?" and "Who's The Toughest Guy In Wrestling?" Kleinberg and Nudelman, who co-hosted Get In The Ring Radio, also provide insight themselves into the context of the wrestling industry at the time.

Sections of this book were very funny and informative.  While there may be very little new information in the book for the more knowledgeable fan, the perspective provided by either the authors or the subjects of their interviews provide a refreshing touch for the more learned reader.  While most, if not all, of the mysteries in the book are relatively benign, there are moments

Review: Capitol Revolution By Tim Hornbaker

Review: Capitol Revolution: The Rise of The McMahon Wrestling Empire

Tim Hornbaker, ECW Press, 2015

Paperback, Ebook

Hornbaker's follow up to his 2007 book The National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of The Monopoly That Strangled Pro Wrestling, does not disappoint.  Capitol Revolution is an amazingly well researched book that follows the involvement of the McMahon family in sports promotion throughout the majority of the 20th century.  Hornbaker shows the birth and development of what would become pro wrestling's largest empire against the backdrop of the formation and expansion of the NWA and the growing involvement of the various state athletic commissions. The book shows an industry that was filled with fragile political alliances that were as important to its success as the in-ring product was. Hornbaker provides a great overview of the promoting careers of Jess McMahon, Vincent J. McMahon and Joseph "Toots" Mondt in a time period that is not often covered in other books.  While Mondt, due to his longevity and more colourful nature, is the more central character of the three; the book gives more insight into the lives and careers of Jess and Vince McMahon Sr. than any other contemporary source on the market.

Review: Have A Nice Day By Mick Foley

Review: Have A Nice Day: A Tale Of Blood And Sweatsocks by Mick Foley
Reagan Books, 1999
Hardcover, Paperback, Audiobook

If any book is responsible for launching the professional wrestling literary market of the past twenty years, it is this one. When Have A Nice Day hit number 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list in December of 1999, wrestling insiders, historians and fans scrambled for their pens with hopes of following the success of "Mrs. Foley's baby boy." Some did (most did not) but gone were the days when the only wrestling themed releases were kayfabe guarding picture books and antiquated work out manuals.  Have A Nice day ushered in an era when every living star (past or present) was expected to release a biography; when B-level mid-carders had a forum to explain why he or she forever revolutionized the wrestling business and when the local book store most likely offered a wide selection of accounts of the trials and tribulations of those wrestling fans loved, hated, loved to hate or never heard of. For fans it has been a welcome change that can be attributed to Mick Foley and Have A Nice Day. Foley has since penned 9 other books (auto-biographical, children and adult fiction) and has contributed to a host of other releases.