Western star : the life and legends of Larry McMurtry / David Streitfeld.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Streitfeld, David, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

McMurtry, Larry.

Novelists, American--20th century--Biography.

Novelists, American.

Screenwriters--United States--Biography.

Screenwriters.

Texas--Biography.

Texas.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

Literary criticism.

Biographies

Physical Description:

x, 447 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Other Title:

Life and legends of Larry McMurtry

Place of Publication:

New York : Mariner Books, [2026]

Summary:

"Before Larry McMurtry became one of the most celebrated writers of the twentieth century, he worked on his family's ranch in rural Texas. He spent his days on horseback and his nights listening to vivid stories of his cowboy uncles driving herds of cattle across the plains where there once were bison and Native Americans. "McMurtry Means Beef," as one ranching magazine put it. By the time he died in 2021, McMurtry had published forty books, won a Pulitzer for Lonesome Dove and an Oscar for his cowritten adaptation of Annie Proulx's Brokeback Mountain, and seen his work made into such classic films as Hud and Terms of Endearment. Now, McMurtry means great stories. For all his fame, McMurtry was an elusive figure. He loved women but was married to his typewriter; he was wary of critics and distrustful of other men-except David Streitfeld. When McMurtry gave the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist the keys to his past, Streitfeld dug into every archive and interviewed everyone who would talk. He found that, even as McMurtry's work criticized the old cowboy myths, he loved making up stories about himself. WESTERN STAR reveals the real and complicated life of a storyteller who was both an icon and critic of Texas, the favorite of presidents, confidant to movie stars like Diane Keaton and Cybill Shepherd, friend to Ken Kesey and husband to his widow Faye, an obsessive bookseller, and the most enduring voice of the American West"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Prologue: Larry McMurtry for sale

Ancestors

Native connections

The making of Lonesome Dove, part one

Mom & Dad

On the ranch

Welcome to north central Texas

Birth of a storyteller

College days

Rice again

Introducing the 1960s

Hud

The sorrows of sex

Visitors

A new love

The last picture show: the novel

The director

The last picture show: the movie

The scandal of success

The making of Lonesome Dove, part two

Steve Friedman tries again

Two Texas writers

Friends and films

The making of Lonesome Dove, part three

Fame and its discontents

The bookstore on the plains

Mom

Brokeback begins

Making Brokeback

Last chapters

Epilogue.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 393-425) and index.

Other Format:

Online version Streitfeld, David Western star

ISBN:

9780063234888

0063234882

OCLC:

1514576879

Publisher Number:

CIPO000349317