Those Wide Open Spaces

'Those Wide Open Spaces is the first comprehensive book to look at the leading cowboy movie heroes of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. With more than 225 full-page photographs (many never published previously), the book heralds the stories behind the rise of such greats as Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry, and Roy Rogers. To satisfy the interests of real movie buffs, there are chapters on those stars who made B-Westerns so popular, including Sunset Carson, Buster Crabbe, Tim Holt, Buck Jones, and Lash LaRue (to name only a few). Because these movies would never have been as good as they were without them, the author includes chapters on the Saddle Queens who made the heroes look even better -- such as Anne Jefferys, Virginia Mayo and Jennifer Holt. To round out the presentation, there is a chapter on 100 of the top horses that blazed across the screen every Saturday afternoon.

Hank Williams has been an avid collector of movie cowboy history since he was a kid. Born in the small rural town of Cumberland Furnace, TN, he grew up in the era of the one-reeler B-Western. Before serving in the U.S. Army and playing semi-pro baseball, Hank spent many an unforgettable Saturday working at the State Theater and watching one hero after another ride across the screen. After a career that spanned writing songs, producing sessions at Columbia studios in Nashville, running a small independent film company, and promoting some of Nashville's finest country music performers, Hank moved to Florida where he spends much of his time writing about his favorite subject and playing the state's many golf courses. Currently he is putting together another book on cowboy heroes and villans.