When inventor and movie studio pioneer Thomas Edison wanted to capture western magic on film in 1904, where did he send his crew? To Oklahoma's 101 Ranch near Ponca City. And when Francis Ford Coppola readied young actors Tom Cruise and Matt Dillon to portray teen class strife in the 1983 movie The Outsiders, he took cast and crew to Tulsa, the setting of S. E. Hinton's acclaimed novel. From Edison to Coppola and beyond, Oklahoma has served as both backdrop and home base for cinematic productions. The only book to chronicle the history of made-in-Oklahoma films, John Wooley's Shot in Oklahoma explores the variety, spunk, and ingenuity of moviemaking in the Sooner State over more than a century. Wooley's trek through cinematic history, buttressed by meticulous research and interviews, hits the big films readers have heard of—but maybe didn't realize were shot in the state—along with lesser-known offerings. We also get the films' intriguing backstories. For instance, President Theodore Roosevelt's fascination with a man purportedly able to catch a wolf in his hands led to The Wolf Hunt, shot in the Wichita Mountains and screened in the White House in 1909. Over time, homegrown movies such as Where the Red Fern Grows (1974, 2003) have given way to feature films including The Outsiders and Rain Man (1988). Throughout this tale, Wooley draws attention to unsung aspects of state and cinematic history, including early all-black movies lensed in Oklahoma's African American towns and films starring American Indian leads. With a nod to more recent Hollywood productions such as Twister (1996) and Elizabethtown (2005), Wooley ultimately explores how a low-budget slasher movie created in Oklahoma in the 1980s transformed the movie business worldwide. Punctuated with photographs and including a filmography of more than one hundred productions filmed in the state, Shot in Oklahoma offers movie lovers and historians alike an engaging ride through untold cinematic history.

A Simon & Schuster eBook. Simon & Schuster has a great book for every reader.

In this heartfelt tribute to the spirit and people of Oklahoma, one of the state's most distinguished photojournalists shows that he is equally talented as a photographer and writer. Showcasing black-and-white photographs and fifty short essays, Shooting from the Hip portrays Oklahoma's people, animals, lifestyles, landscapes, and weather in all their diversity. Cowboys, kids, tornados, trucks, rattlesnakes, fiddlers--J. Don Cook has seen them all, and through his poignant essays, he allows us not only to see them but to understand them as he does. After a hardscrabble boyhood, Cook became a photographer at the age of twenty when he took a job with the Ada Evening News in southern Oklahoma. His first assignment was to photograph six abandoned puppies at the city dump--an apt foreshadowing of his career, for he has always been drawn to the poor, the disenfranchised, and the downtrodden. In addition to the brief essays that accompany his photographs, Cook shares some of his own life experiences in a moving introduction and epilogue. His unsparing account of some of the worst moments of his difficult youth and his meditations on how he used these hardships to become an artist can only be called inspirational. "At seven I didn't know any better," he writes, "and believed I had few choices. But I quickly learned to cope--to feint, to dodge, to hide, to read, to run, to survive, to make art--and I did it all, shooting from the hip." J. Don Cook, a resident of Oklahoma City, is an award-winning photojournalist, artist, poet, and business entrepreneur. Nominated three times for a Pulitzer Prize and named News Photographer of the Year seven times by the Oklahoma Press Association, his photographs have appeared in such magazines as National Geographic and Time. James Garner, the acclaimed film and television actor, is best known for his leading roles in the television series Maverick and the The Rockford Files. He is a native of Norman, Oklahoma.

Reveals the inside story of the Oklahoma City Police from 1889-1995.

On June 22, 1978, Melvin Lorenz, his wife, Linda, and son, Richard, were killed near Purcell, Oklahoma. Twenty-four days later, on July 16, six employees of a Sirloin Stockade Restaurant in southwest Oklahoma City were herded into a freezer and shot to death. Hundreds of law enforcement members worked for eight months to track down the killers. In October and November 1979, Roger Dale Stafford was convicted of first degree murder of nine people. However, he was not executed until 1995. This murder story coming from the heart of Oklahoma deserves to be told. It includes the behind-the-scenes perspective of law enforcement officers involved.

On what should have been a beautiful August evening, Jack and Renee Haley were faced with one of the most devastating and senseless tragedies that anyone could imagine. An accidental shooting by a police officer had resulted in the death of their five-year-old son, Austin.The Austin Haley Storywill encourage anyone facing an unimaginable tragedy. It will bring comfort and strength to those who are at the lowest point in their life. Jack and Renee Haley reside in Noble, Oklahoma, with their two children and extended family. After the loss of their son was broadcasted throughout the United States, they developed a passion in uplifting and encouraging others who have also experienced the heartache of losing a child. To schedule an interview with Renee and Jack please contact Traci Jones at [email protected] or 888-361-9473.