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This biography puts readers in the saddle to experience the life of a champion rider in his quest for the gold buckle. Drawing on interviews with Smith and his family and friends, Margot Kahn recreates the days in the late 1960s and early 1970s when rodeo first became a major sports enterprise. She captures the realities of that world: winning enough money to get to the next competition, and competing even when in pain. She also tells how, in his career's second phase, Smith married cowgirl Carole O'Rourke and went into business raising horses, gaining notoriety for his gentle hand with animals and winning acclaim for his and Carole's Circle 7 brand.
About the author
Margot Kahn spent seven years attending rodeos and interviewing and riding with Bill and Carole Smith at their ranch near Thermopolis, Wyoming. She is a graduate of Bates College and Columbia University's MFA program in nonfiction, and was the recipient of the Ohioana Library Association's Walter Rumsey Marvin Grant for a promising young writer in 2005. She lives in Seattle.
