Historian Steven Watts Discusses a New Biography of Will Rogers

St. Louis County Library Foundation’s Favorite Author Series and Left Bank Books are pleased to host Steven Watts, University of Missouri Professor Emeritus in American History, for a discussion and signing of “Citizen Cowboy: Will Rogers and the American People.”

The event will take place on Monday, November 18, 7:00 p.m. at the Clark Family Branch, 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63131. Books will be available for purchase and signing from Left Bank Books. 

“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 Will Rogers 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 historian and writer who has charted the sweeping evolution of American culture in a number of highly praised books. His biographies of major figures—Henry Ford, Walt Disney, Dale Carnegie, Hugh Hefner, John F. Kennedy, and now Will Rogers—has explored the shaping of a modern American value-system devoted to consumerism, self-fulfillment, leisure, and personality. Watts’ books have led to involvement in a number of media projects, including several films for PBS, the History Channel, and documentary venues in Germany and Brazil. 

Watts is Professor Emeritus at the University of Missouri, where he taught a wide range of courses in American history for 36 years.

Program sites are accessible. With at least two weeks' notice, accommodations will be made for persons with disabilities. Call 314-994-3300 or contact us.