Although films about the presidency have been a popular subject for analysis, there is no equivalent literature about plays that portray chief executives. This book fills that gap by examining in detail about 50 plays depicting historical, fictional and even musical presidents. It explains how, as the public's trust in government has declined, the heroic presidents of the first half of the twentieth century have been replaced on stage by such antiheroes as Nixon and Harding.

This book seeks to fill a major gap in the literature about fictional representations of presidents by studying more than 40 plays, written since 1900, which have had prominent productions on or off-Broadway or in another major city.

Jim Courtney, the upright editor of the Whistle Stop Gazette, is secretly Arizona Adams--"the nicest gosh-derned bandit you'd ever want to meet." For years Arizona's been robbing small sums from passengers on the Curtain Rail Line, in an effort to scare off customers and bankrupt Curtain for bilking ranchers out of their land. Suddenly Curtain dies in 1902, and his lawyer sends Courtney a letter advising him that, after an extensive search, Curtain believed Courtney to be his long lost nephew and heir. Ironically, this proves to be true. But Courtney can only inherit the rail line if he meets the one proviso in his uncle's will: He has to kill or capture Arizona Adams How can he resolve this seemingly impossible conundrum? Lovers of Westerns can find out in this action-packed novel replete with comedy, satire, and a true romantic hero.