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Will Rogers was a one-man news and entertainment industry at the time of his tragic death in 1935. We know Rogers' public persona from his surviving movies, syndicated newspaper column, and recorded radio performances. But less is commonly known about Rogers the private man. This book reveals much about his origins and early years--in the words of the "Indian Cowboy" himself.

Born into a wealthy part-Cherokee family in Indian Territory, Will answered the call of adventure at age twenty-two and embarked on a two-year trek, entertaining audiences in England, South America, Africa, New Zealand, and Australia. Rogers wrote letters home--wonderful letters in which he focuses his remarkable powers of observation on people and places with cultures very different from his own. And he wrote to Betty Blake, the Arkansas girl he courted by mail, and occasionally in person, for eight long years.

At last, these letters are available to a wide readership.

In planning the book Will Rogers, Courtship and Correspondence , author Reba Collins worked closely with Will Rogers' two living sons, Will Rogers, Jr., and James Blake Rogers, as well as their sister, Mary Rogers Brooks.

Reba Collins is Director Emeritus at the Will Rogers Memorial and Research Center in Claremore, Oklahoma. After eighteen years at Central State University (now the University of Central Oklahoma), where she was Professor in the Department of Journalism and served as head of public relations, Dr. Collins was selected to direct the memorial in 1975.