The Queen of the Ring: Sex, Muscles, Diamonds, and the Making of an American Legend

by Jeff Leen

Book Overview

The Queen of the Ring is the story of Mildred Burke, the longest reigning champion of female wrestling. In this in-depth account, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jeff Leen pulls back the curtain on a forgotten era when a petite midwesterner used her beauty and brawn to dominate America's most masculine sport.
At only five feet two, Mildred Burke was an unlikely candidate for the ring. A waitress barely scraping by on Depression-era tips,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802144829
• ISBN13: 9780802144829
• Release Date: July 2010
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Good Read

This is a good read, a bit boring a times but it provides a good historical account of the golden years of wrestling.

Totally Engrossing...

I am a big fan of "old school" women's wrestling and I just loved this book. I brought it with me during a flight to London and this book made the flight a total pleasure. I loosely knew the Mildred Burke story from the "Lipstick and Dynamite" film and from several mentions in the Wrestling Observer newsletter but this book taught me a lot about her amazing career. Mildred was a huge star back in the day but she is pretty obscure among today's fans so this book will hopefully help to get her accomplishments known. Beyond the fact that the wrestling stories are interesting, there is plenty to admire in general just based on how Mildred was able to break so many barriers especially in an era where being a wrestler was far from a typical occupation for a woman. Burke reminds me of Broadway legend Ethel Merman. However, in terms of fame Merman is legendary in Broadway circles while Burke's story has been largely forgotten which is unfortunate. If you are familiar with Fabulous Moolah and Mae Young from their WWE appearances, it's interesting to note that it was Mildred who inspired these two legends to break into the business! The one error I found in the book is that it says Moolah won the women's belt from Wendi Richter at the first Wrestlemania when it was Richter who beat Moolah protege Leilani Kai at this show. Interestingly, Moolah won the belt back from Richter in a double cross in late 1985. Double crosses are mentioned fairly often in this book but the Moolah/Richter double cross is not brought up. You won't be sorry...purchase this book now!

How A Woman Wrestler Overcame Male Chauvinism and Helped Shape 21st century America

In "Queen of the Ring," Jeff Leen uses the story of Mildred Burke as a canvas to craft a compelling,and wildly entertaining portrait of professional wrestling,and the struggle of women wrestlers to get credit for their athleticism and ability to put butts in arena seats. As a teenage, single mother Burke saw wrestling as a way to a better life. At her mother's diner she met the man, Billie Wolfe, who would be her Svengali, and ultimately her nemesis. Leading her to recognition as the Women's Champion (including an incredible draw against her greatest rival in what may have been the last "real" pro wrestling match in the U.S.!). After a tortured marriage marked with domestic violence on Billy's part and infidelity by both. Wolfe would drive his ex-wife to the margins of professional wrestling. Burke found "life after Wolfe," by wrestling in Japan, and ultimately, in producing films of mixed wrestling, where women successfully defeated male opponents. These films touched on some of the deepest undercurrents of sex, violence, and fetishism that have always been part of wrestling's secret heart. "Queen" is , ultimately, a vivid portrait of a changing society, a changing sport (and yes, even "worked" pro wrestling is a sport), and a changing paradigm of relations between the sexes, both sexually, and in power dynamics. I think it would make a heck of a movie, and a film version could be developed from a variety of perspectives. the story of Mildred (Bliss)Burke that wrestling fans, and non-fans alike can both enjoy and learn from

QUEEN OF THE SQUARED CIRCLE!!!

This is the unvarnished story of a true pioneer in the world of professional wrestling.It's also a Horatio Alger tale of how a single mom and former waitress rose from obscurity to become a world champion.From her early days on the carnival circuit where she wrestled(and defeated)men to the days when she headlined at the biggest arenas in the country Mildred Burke was an American original.Burke was an athletic marvel in an age when women were expected to be nothing but subserviant little home-makers.And she had the physique of a female bodybuilder at a time when no one could even concieve what a female bodybuilder was.All the legendary tales are here.But you are told the true stories behind those legends.And some of those stories aren't very pretty.Real life often isn't.This book is as much about tragedies as it is about triumphs.There are heroes here and villians too.Just like there were in wrestling's golden age.This is a book that you won't be able to put down once you start it.I strongly recommend it to any true fan of pro wrestling.