DUKE The Life and Image of John Wayne

Ronald L. Davis, a historian from Southern Methodist University, tracks John Wayne's life from his childhood in Iowa to beyond the grave. Davis uses interviews gleaned from Wayne's last wife, Pilar, Maureen O'Hara and John Ford's son, among others. We follow the Duke from his unhappy boyhood with his overbearing mother and his beloved but bumbling father, through his accidental beginnings in the movie business, to his becoming a movie star and then a national icon. Davis reveals a complex personality, both insecure and courageous, compassionate and yet unswerving in its political prejudices. Adams Morgan's reading doesn't interfere with the text, but after a few hours of hearing about heavy drinking and smoking in the company of cowboys, the allure of the Duke eludes me. M.D.B. © AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/MAR 00]