In this darkly funny work of literary reportage, narrated by an excitable, semi-fictionalized graduate student named Kit, a bookish young woman insinuates herself into the lives of two cage fighters - one a young prodigy, the other an aging journeyman.

Kerry Howley follows these men for three years through the bloody world of mixed martial arts as they starve themselves, break bones, fail their families and form new ones in the quest to rise from remote Midwestern fairgrounds to packed Vegas arenas.

With penetrating intelligence and wry humor, Howley exposes the profundities and absurdities of this American subculture. Timemagazine's #2 best book of non-fiction, 2014 'Throwndoes what all literature aspires to do - to bring us into a community, a universe, we did not know we cared about and in the end leave us shattered and revealed.' Los Angeles Times'The most fascinating book I've read this year.

The precision of Howley's prose reminds me of Joan Didion or David Foster Wallace. Howley writes like someone who's been flayed, all nerve endings exposed, no barriers between her and the world around her.' Time'The fight book of our generation has landed. Thrownis a fantastic debut.' The Week'A poetic portrait of a bloody American subculture, and a knockout of a non-fiction debut.' O, The Oprah Magazine'A truly gripping account of the insular world of MMA - the history, the personalities, the injuries, the money, the white-hot fighters and the foundering ones.' Salon'Easily the best inside-fights book ever written.' Deadspin