Imus: America's Cowboy

Rating:
Summary: From Publisher's Weekly - Publishers Weekly
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Awful
Review: 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 It has a number of out-of-date references, has nothing but dated pictures from more than ten years ago, and has factually inaccuracies and misspellings.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.

Rating:
Summary: IMUS. AMERICA'S COWBOY
Review: 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.