David Shoemaker's sports writing has struck a nerve with wrestling fans who, like him, grew up worshipping a sport often derided as fake.' Starting in the early 1900s and exploring the path of pro wrestling in America through the present day, The Squared Circle grew out of his column 'Dead Wrestlers of the Week' for Deadspin.com, where he wrote under the pseudonym 'The Masked Man,' and is the first book to acknowledge both the sport's broader significance and wrestling fans' keen intellect and sense of irony. Each section offers a snapshot of the wrestling world.'