Speaking & signing: John Spong - A Book on the Making of Lonesome Dove

Widely acclaimed as the greatest Western ever made, Lonesome Dove has become a true American epic. Larry McMurtry's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel was a New York Times best seller, with more than 2.5 million copies currently in print. The Lonesome Dove miniseries has drawn millions of viewers and won numerous awards, including seven Emmys.

A Book on the Making of Lonesome Dove takes you on a fascinating behind-the-scenes journey into the creation of the book, the miniseries, and the world of Lonesome… Show more Dove. Writer John Spong talks to forty of the key people involved, including author Larry McMurtry; actors Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Angelica Huston, Diane Lane, Danny Glover, Ricky Schroder, D. B. Sweeney, Frederic Forrest, and Chris Cooper; executive producer and screenwriter Bill Wittliff; executive producer Suzanne de Passe; and director Simon Wincer. They and a host of others tell lively stories about McMurtry's writing of the epic novel and the process of turning it into the miniseries Lonesome Dove. Accompanying their recollections are photographs of iconic props, costumes, set designs, and shooting scripts. Rounding out the book are continuity Polaroids used during filming and photographs taken on the set by Bill Wittliff, which place you behind the scenes in the middle of the action.

John Spong is the Senior Editor at Texas Monthly. pong was nominated for a National Magazine Award in 2010 for his story celebrating Texas dance halls, “Step Right Up,” and has twice won the Texas Institute of Letters’ O. Henry Award for Magazine Journalism. His stories have been collected in The Best American Sports Writing 2009, Literary Austin, and Rio Grande. In 2005, the City and Regional Magazines Association named Spong its national writer of the year.

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