The Squared Circle

A Deadspin and Grantland correspondent presents a breakthrough examination of the professional wrestling, its fans, and its wider cultural impact that does for the sport what Chuck Klosterman did for heavy metal.

The Squared Circle grows out of David Shoemaker’s writing for Deadspin, where he started the column “Dead Wrestler of the Week” (which boasts over 1 million page views). There he featured weekly wrestling superstars who have died young because of steroid use and the abuse their bodies take. Shoemaker’s sportswriting has since struck a nerve with generations of wrestling fans who—like him—grew up worshipping a sport often derided as “fake” in the wider culture. To them, these professional wrestling superstars are not just heroes but an emotional outlet and the lens through which they learned to see the world. The Squared Circle is the first book to acknowledge both the sport’s broader significance and wrestling fans’ keen intellect and sense of irony. Divided into eras, each section offers a snapshot of the wrestling world, profiles of the period’s preeminent wrestlers, and the sport’s influence on our broader culture. Shoemaker argues that as a performance more comfortable with its artifice than any other, pro wrestling can teach us about the nature of performance, audience, and, yes, art. Full of humor and self-deprecating reminiscence—but also offering a compelling look at the sport’s rightful place in pop culture—The Squared Circle is the book that legions of wrestling fans have been waiting for. In it, Shoemaker teaches us to look past the spandex and body slams to see an art form that can explain the world.