Actors & Actresses - Biography, Native Americans - Biography, Authors - Biography, Entertainment & Performing Artists - Biography
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Overview
In his most famous utterance, the humorist Will Rogers proclaimed 'I never met a man I didn't like, ' but it often seemed equally true that there was not a man or woman who did not like Will Rogers.This embodiment of quintessential American values was born to part-Cherokee parents in 1879 in the Indian Territory of what is now the state of Oklahoma. As a footloose youth, he was much more interested in riding and roping than schoolwork, and his skill as one of the greatest lariat artists of all time took him around the world and to the Broadway stage; but it was only when he added topical humor to his act that Rogers became, in the first four decades of the 20th century, the most popular American entertainer of his day.Editorials
School Library Journal
Gr 7-10-Rogers described his ancestral mix as, "`My father was one-eighth Cherokee Indian and my mother was a quarter-blood Cherokee. I never got far enough in arithmetic to figure out how much injun that made me, but there's nothing of which I am more proud than my Cherokee blood.'" While his inclusion in this series may be tenuous, a biography of this engaging figure is nonetheless welcome. Sonneborn presents a brief overview of the Cherokee nation prior to and during the subject's lifetime. His childhood is recounted, as is his career as a cowboy, actor, public speaker, philosopher, and all-around nice guy. Although larded with some academic vocabulary, the exposition is readable and informative. The text is enlivened with 48 black-and-white photographs (a few are a mite dim). Peter Anderson's Will Rogers (Childrens, 1992) is a brief, once-over-lightly treatment for younger readers.-George Gleason, Department of English, Southwest Missouri State University, SpringfieldBook Details
Published
June 1, 1993
Publisher
Chelsea House Pub (T)
Pages
116
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780791019887