{"product_id":"ballyhoo-the-roughhousers-con-artists-and-wildmen-who-invented-professional-wrestling-9780826222992","title":"Ballyhoo!: The Roughhousers, Con Artists, and Wildmen Who Invented Professional Wrestling","description":"\u003ci\u003eBallyhoo! The Roughhousers, Con Artists, and Wildmen Who Invented Professional Wrestling \u003c\/i\u003eis a history of professional wrestling's formative period in the U.S., from roughly 1874 to 1941, and the contested interplay of wrestlers and promoters who built the \"sport\" as we know it. During this period, the major conventions that would define wrestling to the present day were perfected and codified, as wrestling morphed from a rough sport practiced on farms and at town gatherings to melodramatic mass entertainment that reliably drew large crowds in cities across the nation. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The narrative uses the life and career of Jack Curley--a boxing promoter whose fortune took a turn for the better when he began promoting wrestling matches--as a compass as it charts the development of wrestling. By the late 1910s, Curley's shows were selling out Madison Square Garden monthly. \u003ci\u003eBallyhoo \u003c\/i\u003echronicles his competition with the other promoters, as well as the lives of colorful athletes like \"Strangler\" Ed Lewis, Frank Gotch, the \"Masked Marvel,\" Jim Londos, \"Gorgeous George\" Wagner, \"Farmer\" Martin Burns, and \"Dynamite\" Gus Sonnenberg. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Missouri Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 12\/22\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780826222992\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 310","brand":"Jon Langmead","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43251377012917,"sku":"9780826222992","price":31.41,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_1df3d50a-654b-4693-9352-1694387ff9d4.jpg?v=1699371658","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/ballyhoo-the-roughhousers-con-artists-and-wildmen-who-invented-professional-wrestling-9780826222992","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}