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Citizen Cowboy is a probing biography of one of America's most influential cultural figures. Will Rogers was a youth from the Cherokee Indian Territory of Oklahoma who rose to conquer nearly every form of media and entertainment in the early twentieth century's rapidly expanding consumer society. Through vaudeville, the Ziegfeld Follies and Broadway, syndicated newspaper and magazine writing, the lecture circuit, radio, and Hollywood movies, Rogers built his reputation as a folksy humorist whose wit made him a national symbol of common sense, common decency, and common people. Though a friend of presidents, movie stars and industrial leaders, it was his bond with ordinary people that endeared him to mass audiences. Making his fellow Americans laugh and think while honoring the past and embracing the future, Rogers helped ease them into the modern world and they loved him for it.
‘Steven Watts is a master of the biographer’s art. Drawing a bead on Will Rogers, Citizen Cowboy hits the bull’s eye. It is a triumph of imaginative research, vigorous writing, and fresh insights into a man whose career casts unprecedented light on the earliest years of our own time.’
Jackson Lears - author of Animal Spirits: The American Search for Vitality from Camp Meeting to Wall Street
‘Citizen Cowboy is a masterful portrait of the most popular humorist in American history. As Watts brilliantly illuminates, Rogers-a Cherokee from Oklahoma-skewed pomposity in all its high-toned and narrow-minded guises with his folksy personal style and remains a national treasure. Highly recommended!’
Douglas Brinkley - author of Cronkite
‘Will Rogers, with his swirling lariat and comedic wit, was one of America’s greatest characters. Steven Watts, a master biographer, illuminates Rogers’ down-home charm, his capacious love of life, and the reasons so many Americans found both humor and solace in Rogers’ torrent of seemingly off-handed remarks about their nation’s tumultuous times. A delight to read.’
David Farber - author of Everybody Ought to be Rich: The Life and Times of John J. Rascob, Capitalist
‘This study of an American icon is exceptional-well researched, written, and presented. It documents well how Will’s life touched a vast number and array of fellow citizens in his day and continues to have meaning to Americans today. I congratulate the author of this fine work.’
Steven Gragert - editor of The Papers of Will Rogers, Will Rogers’ Weekly Articles, and Will Rogers’ Daily
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