Before The Bell

Well-kept secrets have shaped and changed human history at every level, ensuring victory in war while sustaining commerce and industry. For many decades, professional wrestling enforced its own code of secrecy to build the sport into a moneymaking endeavor, relying on tight-lipped performers and promoters to advance the storylines that kept dedicated fans coming back for every card. For better or worse, the days of linear plotlines and suspension of disbelief are long past, but Greg Oliver and Steven Johnson have chronicled the twists and turns of this bygone era—and just about everything else that has transpired since those times—in their book The Storytellers: From The Terrible Turk To Twitter.

To be sure, sentimental commemorations and nostalgia are omnipresent themes in the wrestling world nowadays, and authors who turn an eye to the past are hard-pressed to bring new perspectives and topics to the discussion. Oliver and Johnson respond to this challenge in earnest, providing unique color and perspectives to their examination of wrestling. Accounts of rings filled with smelt, mud, and molasses; a discussion on the origins of bloodletting and blading; and recollections of guest appearances by bears and monkeys provide the depth and texture that distinguishes The Storytellers from other historical retrospectives.