King of the Cowboys, Queen of the West: Roy Rogers and Dale Evans

For more than sixty years, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans personified the romantic, mythic West that America continued to cherish well into the modern age. Blazing a trail through every branch of the entertainment industry - radio, film, recordings, television, and even comic books - the couple capitalized on their attractive personas and appealed to the nation’s belief in family values, an independent spirit, and community. Raymond E. White presents these two celebrities in the most comprehensive and inclusive account to date. Part narrative, part reference, this impeccably researched survey spans the entire scope of Rogers’s and Evans’s careers, illuminating their place in twentieth-century American popular culture. Following the pair through each stage of their professional and personal trajectory, White explores the unique alchemy of the singing cowboy and his free-spirited partner. In a dual biography, he shows how Rogers and Evans carefully husbanded their public image and - of particular note - incorporated their Christian faith into their performances. And in a series of authoritative appendixes, he documents their contributions to each medium they worked in. Testifying to both the breadth and the longevity of their careers, the book includes radio logs, discographies, filmographies, and comicographies that will delight historians and collectors alike. With its engaging tone and meticulous research, King of the Cowboys, Queen of the West is bound to become the definitive source on the lives of these two great American icons.