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Will Rogers

Will Rogers

A Biography

by Ben Yagoda

Published by: University of Oklahoma Press

Imprint: University of Oklahoma Press

456 Pages | 6 x 9

Paperback

$24.95

9780806132389

Published: April 2000

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Description
Authors
Praise

Will Rogers was a true American icon. His newspaper column was read daily by 40 million people, and as radio entertainer, lecturer, movies star, and homespun sage, he was one of our most popular entertainers.

Ben Yagoda is Associate Professor of English and Journalism at the University of Delaware. He is the coeditor of The Art of Fact: A Historical Anthology of Literary Journalism and is the author of a forthcoming history of The New Yorker.

"Rogers emodied old-time values, yet he 'opportunistically' embraced the new mass-culture media. Apostle of decency, he headlined in the 'all-but pornographic' Ziegfeld Follies. Yagoda...has written the fullest biography of thie AMerican icon, a resonant portrait imbued with Roger's irreverent spirit, yet attuned to both the strengths and limitations of his commonsense, crackerbarrel world view." —Publishers Weekly

"Someone has finally written a good biography od Will Rogers....It's a delight to be reminded that political humor without meanness of spirit is not only possible, but indeed is a great American tradition. Politicians and all who labor with them will relish Ben Yagoda's Will Rogers, but so will those who enjoy show biz tidbits and vaudeville history."—New York Times Book Review

"[A] superbly researched biography of Will Rogers."—Los Angeles Times

"Yagoda offers an utterly thorough, brilliant taking-apart of the unique Rogers persona....So immediate you can scratch a match on his boot sole."—Kirkus Reviews