The Bizarre Careers Of John R Brinkley

By 1926, it seemed that John R. Brinkley's experimental rejuvenation cure—transplanting goat glands into aging men—had taken the nation by storm. Never mind that "Doc" Brinkley's medical credentials were shaky at best and that he prescribed medication over the airwaves via his high-power radio stations. To most in the medical field, he was a quack. But to his many patients and listeners, he was a brilliant surgeon, a savior of their lost manhood and youth. His rogue radio stations, XER and its successor XERA, eventually broadcast at an antenna-shattering 1,000,000 watts and not only were a megaphone for Brinkley's lucrative quackery but also hosted an unprecedented number of then-unknown country musicians and other guests. The Bizarre Careers of John R. Brinkley tells the story of the infamous "Goat Gland Doctor"—a controversial medical charlatan, groundbreaking radio impresario, and prescient political campaigner—and recounts his amazing rags-to-riches-to-rags career. A master manipulator and skilled con artist, Brinkley left behind a patchwork of myths and unreliable personal accounts that many writers have merely perpetuated—until now. Alton Lee brings Brinkley's infamous legacy to the forefront, exploring how he ruthlessly exploited the sexual frustrations of aging men and the general public's antipathy toward medical doctors. Lee leaves no stone unturned in this account of a man who changed the course of American institutions forever.

By 1926, it seemed that John R. Brinkley's experimental rejuvenation cure—transplanting goat glands into aging men—had taken the nation by storm. Never mind that "Doc" Brinkley's medical credentials were shaky at best and that he prescribed medication over the airwaves via his high-power radio stations. To most in the medical field, he was a quack. But to his many patients and listeners, he was a brilliant surgeon, a savior of their lost manhood and youth. His rogue radio stations, XER and its successor XERA, eventually broadcast at an antenna-shattering 1,000,000 watts and not only were a megaphone for Brinkley's lucrative quackery but also hosted an unprecedented number of then-unknown country musicians and other guests. The Bizarre Careers of John R. Brinkley tells the story of the infamous "Goat Gland Doctor"—a controversial medical charlatan, groundbreaking radio impresario, and prescient political campaigner—and recounts his amazing rags-to-riches-to-rags career. A master manipulator and skilled con artist, Brinkley left behind a patchwork of myths and unreliable personal accounts that many writers have merely perpetuated—until now. Alton Lee brings Brinkley's infamous legacy to the forefront, exploring how he ruthlessly exploited the sexual frustrations of aging men and the general public's antipathy toward medical doctors. Lee leaves no stone unturned in this account of a man who changed the course of American institutions forever.

Provides an examination of northwest Louisiana's unique musical milieu, home to the Louisiana Hayride, a radio barn dance between 1948 and 1960. The region's history, geography, race relations, media, and other forces set the stage for the Hayride's critical role in both country music and rock-and-roll.

When amateur enthusiasts began sending fuzzy signals from their garages and rooftops, radio broadcasting was born. Sensing the medium's potential, snake-oil salesmen and preachers took to the air, at once setting early standards for radio programming and making bedlam of the airwaves. Into the chaos stepped a young secretary of commerce, Herbert Hoover, whose passion for organization guided the technology's growth. When a charismatic bandleader named Rudy Vallee created the first on-air variety show and America elected its first true radio president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, radio had arrived. Rudel tells the story of the boisterous years when radio took its place in the nation's living room and forever changed American politics, journalism, and entertainment.

From Native Americans, explorers, and early settlers to entertainers, business people, politicians, lawyers, artists, and many others, the well-known and not-so-well-known Arkansans featured in Statesmen, Scoundrels, and Eccentrics have fascinating stories. To name a few, there’s the “Hanging Judge,” Isaac C. Parker of Fort Smith, and Hattie Caraway, the first elected female U.S. senator. Isaac T. Gillam, a slave who became a prominent politician in post–Civil War Little Rock, is included, as is Norman McLeod, an eccentric Hot Springs photographer and owner of the city’s first large tourist trap. These entertaining short biographies from Dillard’s Remembering Arkansas column will be enjoyed by all kinds of readers, young and old alike. All the original columns reprinted here have also been enhanced with Dillard’s own recommended reading lists. Statesmen will serve as an introduction or reintroduction to the state’s wonderfully complex heritage, full of rhythm and discord, peopled by generations of hardworking men and women who have contributed much to the region and nation.

The inspiration for the 2016 Sundance Film Festival documentary, NUTS!. “An extraordinary saga of the most dangerous quack of all time...entrancing” –USA Today In 1917, John R. Brinkley–America’s most brazen con man–introduced an outlandish surgical method for restoring fading male virility. It was all nonsense, but thousands of eager customers quickly made “Dr.” Brinkley one of America’s richest men–and a national celebrity. The great quack buster Morris Fishbein vowed to put the country’ s “most daring and dangerous” charlatan out of business, yet each effort seemed only to spur Brinkley to new heights of ingenuity, and the worlds of advertising, broadcasting, and politics soon proved to be equally fertile grounds for his potent brand of flimflam. Culminating in a decisive courtroom confrontation, Charlatan is a marvelous portrait of a boundlessly audacious rogue on the loose in an America ripe for the bamboozling.

"Wishart and the staff of the Center for Great Plains Studies have compiled a wide-ranging (pun intended) encyclopedia of this important region. Their objective was to 'give definition to a region that has traditionally been poorly defined,' and they have

These exciting and unique author profiles are essential to your holdings because sketches are entirely revised and up-to-date, and completely replace the original Contemporary Authors entries. A softcover cumulative index is published twice per year (included in subscription).