Ronald L. Davis is Emeritus Professor of History at Southern Methodist University, where he was Director of both the Oral History Program on the Performing Arts and the De Golyer Institute for American Studies. He has written many books on the performing arts in America, including the best-seller Hollywood Anecdotes.
"While buffs and professional historians alike may be unfamiliar with William S. Hart's career in the early twentieth century, Ronald L. Davis gives ample reason for western fans to come to attention. His work on the complicated life of Hart is important to those interested in the birth and growth of American western mythology, the history of early American film, and how Hart himself became a part of the western ethos...Most fascinating about this work is the author's connection between Hart's western idealism and his background as a classically trained stage actor. By taking Hart's career as a whole, the author draws a clear line between the actor's Shakespearian roots and flare for the dramatics with his later obsession with portraying the West in moralistic and Turnerian fashion. By the 1930s filmmakers like John Ford popularized a new generation of westerns, but Hart's impact on the genre remains. If you have seen a western film with a protagonist gritting his teeth or protecting his heart in a shootout, you have seen a filmed directly or indirectly touched by William S. Hart."--Panhandle-Plains Historical Review
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