Steven Watts

The St. Louis County Library Foundation and Left Bank Books Present Historian Steven Watts

 
Author of “Citizen Cowboy: Will Rogers and the American People”
 

Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Missouri, Steven Watts presents 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 entertainment in the early twentieth century. Through vaudeville, the Ziegfeld Follies and Broadway, radio, and Hollywood movies, Rogers built his reputation as a folksy humorist whose wit made him a national symbol of the 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.

Doors open at 6:00 p.m.

Books available from Left Bank Books.