Overview

RENO, 1947. Imagine you've had enough of your cheating spouse. You're ready to leave. But it's 1947. And that means unless your spouse ""gives"" you a divorce, you're stuck. Or you could go to Reno! Divorce seekers by the thousands were running to ""The Divorce Capital of the World"" for a six-week, no-fault divorce. If they had the money and the need for privacy, they stayed on one of the dude ranches around town. Someone called those dude ranches ""divorce ranches"" and the name stuck. Bill McGee was the dude wrangler on the famous Flying M E divorce ranch, an exclusive hideout for the wealthy. He entertained Easterners with names like Astor and du Pont, and Hollywood movie stars Clark Gable and Ava Gardner. In this book, you will find: - A captivating collection of true stories illustrated with photos from the author's collection or the private collections of former Flying M E guests. - A firsthand account of life on the exclusive Flying M E... as Bill McGee entertained guests on trail rides by day and escorted them to their favorite watering holes to drink and gamble by night. - A unique magazine-style layout, perfect for reading cover-to-cover or skipping around to your favorite stories... illustrated with with 180 vintage photos. - An Introduction by divorce ranch novelist Peggy Wynne Borgman, who sets the stage for the allure of 1940s Reno and how a little town out West changed the way people divorced in America. ""...the only memoir written by a former Nevada divorce ranch wrangler."" - Lynn Downey, author of American Dude Ranch - A Touch of the Cowboy and the Thrill of the West ""Bill McGee's stories are like an old Hollywood movie coming to life."" - Judd Pillot, writer/producer ""The book is a treasure if only for the photos alone-images of cowboys, the divorce ranch, old Virginia City, and Eastern socialites duding it up during their six-week cure.""- Deb Caletti, author of The Secrets She Keeps, a divorce ranch novel

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9780998463582

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Reviews

""Bill McGee's stories are like an old Hollywood movie coming to life."" - Judd Pillot, Writer/Producer ""The book is a treasure if only for the photos alone-images of cowboys, the divorce ranch, old Virginia City, and Eastern socialites duding it up during their six-week cure."" - Deb Caletti, author of The Secrets She Keeps, a divorce ranch novel ""Bill McGee has written the only memoir by a former Nevada divorce ranch wrangler. Reno's era as 'Divorce Capital of the World' comes to life in his firsthand stories and historic images."" - Lynn Downey, author of American Dude Ranch, A Touch of the Cowboy and the Thrill of the West ""The original hardcover edition of this book inspired me to write a historical novel set on a divorce ranch. I'm a Northern Nevadan, and devoured this memoir of a forgotten era in mid-century history. I was surprised to learn how close I live to where this all happened! Nevada divorce was a huge cultural phenomenon that had a big impact on 20th-century life, when divorces were hard (or impossible) to get. The photographs in the book are half the fun, most of them candid, taken by former guests. Clark Gable even makes a cameo appearance, as a friend of the owner of the Flying M E divorce ranch! Reno got the tagline ""The Biggest Little City"" because of all the luxuries and amenities that were created to entertain divorce-seekers who had to spend six weeks awaiting their legal residency, including hotels, nightclubs, casinos, and restaurants. - PW Borgman, author of The Better Half: A Novel of the Nevada Divorce Ranch Era

Author Information

""Bill McGee is no armchair historian. He writes about the history of which he was a part... whether it's growing up in Montana during the hardscrabble years of the Depression, or joining the Navy in 1942 at age seventeen simply to get into the fight, or cowboying on an exclusive divorce ranch in Nevada in the postwar '40s, or working in broadcasting in the early days of 1950s and '60s television.""-Barnaby Conrad, founder of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference and author of ""Matador""William L. ""Bill"" McGee was born in 1925 and grew up ranching around the cow town of Malta, Montana on the Hi-Line. In 1950, he left cowboying and made a successful transition into the broadcasting industry where he enjoyed a 32-year career and made a name for himself in broadcast marketing and cooperative advertising. His writing career spanned six decades and his style has been described as straightforward, journalistic, and as ""precise and economical as a Mickey Spillane novel."" (Marine Corps League Magazine) Sandra V. McGee launched her writing career as a publicist for the performing arts. In 2001, she ventured into the world of Nevada divorce ranches and never returned. Her passions are ballet, film noir, B movies, and Reno when it was ""Divorce Capital of the World.""

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