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A Will Rogers Treasury: Reflections and Observations
Presents a compendium of the wit and wisdom of American humorist Will Rogers, selected from among the most important of his newspaper columns
- GenresHumor
275 pages, Hardcover
First published May 4, 1983
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 23, 2026
This book covers selected portions of humorist Will Roger’s work from newspaper columns and speeches from 1922 through 1935; it gives a very good impression of what made Will Rogers what he was, which was one of the most popular entertainers between the Wars. And this book was great for my nightly bedtime reading.
As the introduction to this book notes, Rogers was born as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, in the Indian Territory, and got his start in vaudeville as a trick roper. He soon found that his observations were more popular than his rope tricks, joined Florenz Ziegfeld, and was soon in his productions. He traveled around the world three times, made seventy-one films (fifty silent films and twenty-one "talkies"), and made gentle or pointed fun at presidents from Wilson through Roosevelt and at Congress. More to the point of this book, he wrote some six hundred and sixty weekend feature articles from 1922 on, and more than two thousand eight hundred daily squibs, which were a day-to-day diary. In this book, each year is introduced by what was happening in the world, then by what was happening with Rogers that year. Then, we have selected articles or speeches or what have you that Rogers penned that year. This arrangement makes the book great for bedtime reading. Alas, the 1935 section is incomplete, as on August 15th, just six hours after penning a note on what he and pilot Wiley Post were about to do in Northern Alaska, the plane crashed, killing both men instantly.
Rogers often started his observations with “All I know is what I read in the papers”, and his humor is just as timely now as it was so many years ago, as politics is always the same. And I loved reading this book.
As the introduction to this book notes, Rogers was born as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, in the Indian Territory, and got his start in vaudeville as a trick roper. He soon found that his observations were more popular than his rope tricks, joined Florenz Ziegfeld, and was soon in his productions. He traveled around the world three times, made seventy-one films (fifty silent films and twenty-one "talkies"), and made gentle or pointed fun at presidents from Wilson through Roosevelt and at Congress. More to the point of this book, he wrote some six hundred and sixty weekend feature articles from 1922 on, and more than two thousand eight hundred daily squibs, which were a day-to-day diary. In this book, each year is introduced by what was happening in the world, then by what was happening with Rogers that year. Then, we have selected articles or speeches or what have you that Rogers penned that year. This arrangement makes the book great for bedtime reading. Alas, the 1935 section is incomplete, as on August 15th, just six hours after penning a note on what he and pilot Wiley Post were about to do in Northern Alaska, the plane crashed, killing both men instantly.
Rogers often started his observations with “All I know is what I read in the papers”, and his humor is just as timely now as it was so many years ago, as politics is always the same. And I loved reading this book.
xx-dnf-skim-reference
October 4, 2025Too dated for me to be able to parse. Admittedly, I only read a couple of pieces, but it's not the first Rogers I've read, either... I just hoped this would be actually easier than the others I've tried. Oh well. October 2025
April 14, 2023
Great collection of Will’s writings. Each chapter starts off by the compilers telling you the highlights of that particular year, to give some reference to Rogers’ remarks.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews