Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Plates
- Author’s Note
- Introduction
- 1 The Final Frontier
- 2 The Cherokee Kid
- 3 The Vaudeville Romance
- 4 Follies and Frolics
- 5 The Celluloid Cowboy
- 6 An Age of Publicity
- 7 The American Soul
- 8 Politics is Applesauce
- Plates
- 9 The Unfunny Business of Trying To Be Funny
- 10 The Private Man
- 11 The Little Fellow and the Great Depression
- 12 Man in Motion
- 13 The Man Talkies Were Invented For
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Notes
- Index
Introduction
Will Rogers’ America
Published online by Cambridge University Press: aN Invalid Date NaN
- Frontmatter
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Plates
- Author’s Note
- Introduction
- 1 The Final Frontier
- 2 The Cherokee Kid
- 3 The Vaudeville Romance
- 4 Follies and Frolics
- 5 The Celluloid Cowboy
- 6 An Age of Publicity
- 7 The American Soul
- 8 Politics is Applesauce
- Plates
- 9 The Unfunny Business of Trying To Be Funny
- 10 The Private Man
- 11 The Little Fellow and the Great Depression
- 12 Man in Motion
- 13 The Man Talkies Were Invented For
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Notes
- Index
Summary
The introduction presents Rogers as a figure straddling major divides in American history. He was a Cherokee Indian seeking suceess in a WASP society, and a cowboy from the rural republic of the nineteenth century who becomes a wildly popular humorist, writer, and movie star in the urban society of the twentieth century. In particular, it frames him as a historical figure reflecting four important shifts in this era: the end of the frontier, the development of a consumer culture of abundance and personality, the emergence of modern celebrity, and the sharpening of a populist ethos in culture and politics. Finally, it frames Rogers as a historical mediator who helped Americans ease their way from one historical era to another.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Citizen CowboyWill Rogers and the American People, pp. 1 - 8Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024