Public Cowboy No. 1: The Life and Times of Gene Autry - Hardcover

Holly George-Warren is an award-winning writer, editor, and frequent commentator on Western films, music, and fashion. A contributor to more than 40 books on popular music, she is the author of Cowboy! How Hollywood Invented the Wild West and coauthor of How the West Was Worn: A History of Western Wear. She is also author of the children's books Honky-Tonk Heroes and Hillbilly Angels: The Pioneers of Country & Western Music and Shake, Rattle & Roll: The Founders of Rock & Roll. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Village Voice, Entertainment Weekly, and many other publications. Beginning in Fall 2006, she will be Adjunct Professor of Journalism at SUNY-New Paltz.

"An appealing, bittersweet success story."--Jack Markowitz, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

"This vivid, detailed chronicle of Gene Autry's life and career is a pleasure to read. George-Warren has done her homework, and presents a straightforward, honest portrait of the man who conquered virtually every medium of show business...The book offers solid assessments of his Autry's recordings and the evolution of his singing style, and fascinating behind-the-scenes details of his career in Hollywood and his ongoing battles with Republic Pictures. His rags-to-riches story is well told here."--Leonard Maltin

"The definitive portrait of Gene Autry."--John Beifuss, Commercial Appeal

"At last, in the centennial year of Gene's birth, Holly George-Warren gives us Public Cowboy No. 1, his first serious, full-length biography. There isn't likely to be another for a long time, so it's fortunate that Ms. George-Warren's is a good one."--Dallas Morning News

"Public Cowboy No. 1 increases our understanding of the American cowboy myth, perpetuated by those movies known as westerns. George-Warren creates a realistic, factual portrait of Autry, the star and the man."--Rick Tamble, The Tennessean

"Holly George-Warren's research is deep and impeccable. Every celebrity could use a biographer like Ms. George-Warren."--Jeanine Basinger, The New York Times

"Enjoyable, thoroughly researched...illuminating biography."--Publishers Weekly

"Holly George-Warren's meticulously researched, engrossing bio-she had access to Autrys personal papers and interviewed more than 100 of his intimates-takes the larger-than-life Autry down to human level...Public Cowboy No. 1 will likely stand as the definitive account of his life and work."--Harp Magazine

"A thorough, no-nonsense account of a singular life, and the prolific music writer George-Warren employs a brisk, assured style that hews to the Cowboy Code."--The Atlantic

"George-Warren does an impeccable job of presenting the facts of Autry's life and career detailing his early attempts at making records through his most successful periods. For fans of the singing cowboy, country music or general pop culture this book is highly recommended."--Midwest Book Review

"An engaging, meticulously researched portrait of an American phenomenon...a colorful and unsparing account."--Norfolk Virginian-Pilot

"Gene Autry was far more than a movie star, a recording artist, and everybody's favorite singing cowboy. Now, like a modern-day version of the great scouts of the old west, Holly George-Warren has applied her prodigious skills as a researcher and reporter to track down every fascinating detail of the life of this American icon. She's also an excellent writer, so Public Cowboy No. 1 is a story well told."-Ben Fong-Torres, author of Hickory Wind: The Life & Times of Gram Parsons and The Doors By the Doors

"Gene Autry pioneered a movie genre that helped shape American popular culture between the 1930s and the 1950s, and after: the singing cowboy. It is sometimes forgotten, though not by Holly George-Warren in this scrupulously researched biography of his creative years, that Autry's hugely popular Saturday matinee films were tuneful musicals as well as highly moral Western fables. In giving Gene, Champion, and Melody Ranch their overdue props, George-Warren provides a shrewd history of a lamented childhood ritual."--Gary Giddins, author of Natural Selection and Visions of Jazz

"Meticulously researched...Public Cowboy No. 1 increases our understanding of the American cowboy myth, perpetuated by those movies known as westerns. George-Warren creates a realistic, factual portrait of Autry, the star and the man."--The Tennessean

"Cleanly written and solidly researched."--Palm Beach Post

"If Gene Autry's movies had the impact on your young life that they had on mine, you'll revel in Holly George-Warren's Public Cowboy No. 1, a thoroughly researched and thoroughly engrossing account of America's favorite singing cowboy. Even those who know Autry only by reputation or from television reruns will find a wealth of information and many rich insights in this superb biography."--Nolan Porterfield, Author of Jimmie Rodgers: The Life and Times of America's Blue Yodeler and Last Cavalier: The Life and Times of John A. Lomax