Review of The World of Lucha Libre by Heather Levi

The World of Lucha Libre: Secrets, Revelations, and Mexican National Identity caters towards the needs of anthropologists and not to the entertainment desires of wrestling fans. While you will learn about lucha libre in this book, unless you are also a fan of anthropology text books and books that read like a doctoral thesis, you might want to take a pass on this one.

I have to admit that while I am an expert on the WWE, my knowledge of lucha libre is not that extensive. I was excited when I saw this book come out because I have always wanted to learn more about lucha libre. However, that excitement was destroyed by the time I got done with chapter one.

The first chapter of this book seeks to define the classification of lucha libre. After reading this debate of whether lucha libre is hegemonic or counterhegemonic, I put the book down for a week.

I finally mustered up the strength to continue reading this book and am glad that I did. I did wind up learning a lot about both lucha libre and how it fit into the traditions of Mexican culture. The entertainment quotient of the book did pick up but it never got to what I can consider being a fun read.

In all fairness to the author, this book was never geared towards wrestling fans. The author is a lecturer in the Anthropology Department at Temple University and the book was published by Duke University Press. The book is a part of their American Encounters/Global Interactions series.