Two Men of Adventure
By Lauren Pronger
Hello listeners, this is Lauren Pronger from Amarillo, TX for the HPPR Spring Radio Readers Book Club talking about The Life and Writings of Will Rogers by Joseph H Carter.
I’ll be honest that I wasn’t entirely sure who Will Rogers was before reading this book. Sure, I knew the name, it’s hard not to in this part of the country, and I knew he did Wild West shows as a trick roper, but I didn’t know much more about the man. I didn’t really know what to expect from the book either, but it was a surprisingly interesting read. Like its subject, the book is short and to the point, often with doses of dry cowboy humor, and the adventures Rogers had were fascinating and much more varied than I had imagined.
The whole time I was reading about this man though, I couldn’t help but think of my father. I’m not sure I ever heard my dad talk about Will Rogers (Roy Rogers was another story!), but reading about one felt like reading about the other. My dad wasn’t Cherokee, but he was a West Texas cowboy raised simply on a family ranch who ended up sailing around the world and having similar daring, yet not always responsible, adventures. He also had a dry sense of humor that he couldn’t hold back, often quipping at the dinner table or with guests, and he always read at least one paper every morning. One of the biggest disappointments in my dad’s later years was when he could no longer get paper copies of the Wall Street Journal delivered daily. He said reading it online just wasn’t the same, but he read it every day anyway.
As the book says of Rogers, my father was also “well-read, well-traveled, and well-informed.” I grew up watching the PBS News Hour every night in addition to seeing him read the paper every morning. After sailing around the world for Semester at Sea, he studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and had a research trip in Mexico to study the Ancient Maya for the Square House Museum in Panhandle, TX. When I finally had a chance to do some of my own traveling, every time I talked about a place I had been to, he’d already have been there (and to many more places besides) and had some entertaining stories to tell about them too. Just like Rogers, he had an endless optimism about life and people. He always helped a man out where he could and generally had good faith in everybody, and his favorite meal was brown beans.
I got my copy of The Life and Writings of Will Rogers from the Amarillo Public Library. It’s a first edition, signed by the author and dedicated to “the Amarillo Library and its reading public.” Everything about this book, the physical copy and its dedication, the wry jokes and rope decals throughout the pages, and the life of the man inside, feel like one of the truest representations of Great Plains cattle country, and I think that comes across in how much it reminded me of my father. I would’ve loved to know what he had to say about the adventures of Will Rogers and his thoughts on the book and what it represents. I’m sure we would’ve had many laughs and heard many more stories about both men’s escapades.
This is Lauren Pronger from Amarillo, TX for the HPPR Radio Readers Book Club. Thanks for listening.
A SPECIAL INVITATION
Thanks, Lauren, for your Radio Readers BookByte. To hear more about Will Rogers as well as all of the books in this Spring’s Read – Route 66: 100 Years on the Mother Road, join us at Lauren’s Chapterhouse Bookstore located in Amarillo on historic Route 66 (1516 South Austin) on Saturday, May 2, from noon to 6 for a come and go open house. You’ll hear a book discussion by this season’s book leaders; a presentation on Will Rogers by Rachel Jackson, a Cherokee and distant cousin of Roger’s; and will be able to record your own Route 66 memories. Hope to see you then!
