Imus: America's Cowboy [Hardcover]

Kathleen Tracy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1999

You either hate him or love him: Don Imus, with his equal-opportunity-insult style. Either way, you'll find this definitive, in-depth account of the ex-Marine and rhythm-and-blues singer who now rivals Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern as king of the air waves a revelation.

You'll follow the quick rise of Imus from small-time stations in California to his first triumphs in New York as the morning host on WNBC. In a year, drugs, alcohol, and ego ended the glory, and, for the next eight, Imus battled the demons that had nearly cost him all hopes of a career. But in 1979, he was back at WNBC, introducing his Right Reverend Dr. Billy Sol Hargus to New York.

With a battery of exclusive personal interviews with Imus's friends and associates as well as with classic selections from the Imus radio archives, this biography offers a detailed, balanced portrait of a public personality and a private man: The one, the only, the disputatious and inimitable Don Imus.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this comprehensive biography of radio host Don Imus, Tracy (Home Brewed: The Drew Carey Biography; Seinfeld: The Entire Domain) patches together the reminiscences of friends and enemies into a rollicking narrative of the sleazy but successful career of the "I-Man." Tracy posits that Imus, who grew up on an Arizona ranch, brought a cowboy ethos with him to Manhattan. By her lights, Imus is "a rugged individualist living by his own code" with a "from-the-hip style." Despite much-publicized alcohol and drug problems, and incidents like his 1969 firing for repeatedly making comments about "spooks," after having held a mean-spirited "Eldridge Cleaver look-alike contest," Imus has always bounced back. His incendiaryAand oft-protestedArhetoric and his jousting with public figures who criticize him have garnered the talk-radio pioneer an audience of 15 million who listen to him on WFAN in New York, or in syndication on almost 100 stations. Whereas Jim Reed's recent biography, Everything Imus, is based almost exclusively on second-hand stories, Tracy has conducted extensive interviews, producing hilarious reflections and a balanced account. Leonard Shapiro of the Washington Post asks, following a presidential appearance on Imus in the Morning, "Why would somebody like Bill Clinton, a decent human being, go on a show where there are constant references to genitals and Jews and derogatory comments about blacks?" Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes takes up the defense, calling Imus rival Howard Stern "a vulgar, vulgar man," and finding Imus "infinitely more intelligent [and] infinitely more sensitive." The shock jock who calls himself "Howard Stern with a vocabulary" will find little here to raise his famous ire. (Aug..-- infinitely more sensitive." The shock jock who calls himself "Howard Stern with a vocabulary" will find little here to raise his famous ire. (Aug.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

A lively biography of the self-made syndicated shock jock who reinvented himself as a more powerful political pundit than Rush Limbaugh. Tracy has written celebrity biographies of Drew Carey and Jerry Seinfeld, but the I-man is more than a comedian with ratings. The biography relates the childhood that made Don Imus caustic and crusty on and off the air (unlike his more self-deprecating, vulnerable, and successful radio rival, Howard Stern). Imuss father was an occasionally abusive alcoholic who roamed several desert Southwest towns. His parents were college-educated, and young Don escaped by reading avariciously. Tracy depicts Imuss craving for the limelight and how his insufferable ego begot trouble. He was impeached as class president ``for being too dictatorial.'' While cruising in cars with brother Fred and friends, hed listen to Wolfman Jack howling and use his ``ability to piss people off'' from the window. His parents separated. The future multimillionaire had a lean decade in the marines, as a miner and railroad brakeman, trying to get a break as a musician while sleeping in laundromats. Finally, he fell behind a radio microphone and spun the industry around by turning the deep-voiced disk jockey into a personality who would insult major figures in Americas morning rush. Too much money went into booze and cocaine, so that Sterns autobiography pegs him as ``the only guy who looked as if he was being limoed to a park bench.'' Along with many colorful other stories about him, Tracy animates the book with many of Imuss quips about public figures. Imus had a controversial exchange with Bill Clinton, and Bob Dole called in asking for Imuss nonendorsement. The breezy biography admires this court jester/cowboy who picked himself up by the bootstraps to kick coke, raise a second marriage, do TV, and strongly influence publishing and politics. An entertaining life of a pioneer whom America loves to hate. (16 pages b&w photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub; First Edition edition (August 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786706082
• ISBN-13: 978-0786706082
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,116,689 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Awful, September 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Imus: America's Cowboy (Hardcover)

This book just isn't worth it. Whether one is or is not an Imus fan, he is a fascinating subject for a biography. But this book is basically a rehash of things that have been said or written elsewhere. It has a number of out-of-date references, has nothing but dated pictures from more than ten years ago, and has factually inaccuracies and misspellings. Sorry, but don't waste your time or money.

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From Publisher's Weekly - Publishers Weekly, November 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Imus: America's Cowboy (Hardcover)

In this comprehensive biography of radio host Don Imus, Tracy (Home Brewed: The Drew Carey Biography; Seinfeld: The Entire Domain) patches together the reminiscences of friends and enemies into a rollicking narrative of the sleazy but successful career of the "I-Man." Tracy posits that Imus, who grew up on an Arizona ranch, brought a cowboy ethos with him to Manhattan. By her lights, Imus is "a rugged individualist living by his own code" with a "from-the-hip style." Despite much-publicized alcohol and drug problems, and incidents like his 1969 firing for repeatedly making comments about "spooks," after having held a mean-spirited "Eldridge Cleaver look-alike contest," Imus has always bounced back. His incendiary--and oft-protested--rhetoric and his jousting with public figures who criticize him have garnered the talk-radio pioneer an audience of 15 million who listen to him on WFAN in New York, or in syndication on almost 100 stations. Whereas Jim Reed''s recent biography, Everything Imus, is based almost exclusively on second-hand stories, Tracy has conducted extensive interviews, producing hilarious reflections and a balanced account. Leonard Shapiro of the Washington Post asks, following a presidential appearance on Imus in the Morning, "Why would somebody like Bill Clinton, a decent human being, go on a show where there are constant references to genitals and Jews and derogatory comments about blacks?" Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes takes up the defense, calling Imus rival Howard Stern "a vulgar, vulgar man," and finding Imus "infinitely more intelligent [and] infinitely more sensitive." The shock jock who calls himself "Howard Stern with a vocabulary" will find little here to raise his famous ire. (Aug.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars IMUS. AMERICA'S COWBOY, June 12, 2002

By 

Frank B. Oudkirk (Roswell, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Imus: America's Cowboy (Hardcover)

This is a very poorly written book. The author comes across as being too smart by half. For instance she writes of a radio station XELO out of Del Rio, Texas that had an early influence on Imus. She goes on to explain that the station got around FCC transmitter power limitations by locating the transmitter in Juarez. If she had checked her geography she would have noted that Juarez is about 400 miles from Del Rio and the transmitter was actually located across the Rio Grande from Del Rio in what was then called Villa Cuna.

She goes on to tell of Imus and his friends doing parodies on a con man named Billy Sol Estes, whom she writes was involved in a salad oil scam, when in fact it was chattle mortages on fertilizer tanks.

This may seem like nit picking but given these inaccuracies how does one accept the rest of this book, or any of her other books as being factual?

She does give some insights into Imus's character and background that are interesting.....if true.