The Kansas City Public Library celebrates the legacy of Western novelist Louis L’Amour with Dr. Jim Hoy and his presentation American Icon: The Enduring Appeal of the Cowboy on Tuesday, September 16, at 6:30 p.m. in the Truman Forum at the Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St.

Hoy will examine the pop culture conception of the cowboy and its evolution, influenced by Wild West shows, genre films and novels like those L’Amour authored. This illustrated presentation includes a sampling of period folk songs performed on acoustic guitar.

Hoy is an English professor at Emporia State University and is a former Congressionally-appointed Trustee of the American Folk Life Center at the Library of Congress. He has published ten books, the latest being Flint Hills Cowboys: Tales of the Tallgrass Prairie. This program is inspired in part by the republication of Education of a Wandering Man: The Centennial Hardcover Edition by Louis L’Amour, a copy of which was donated to the Library by Random House.

The event is co-sponsored by Emporia State University and the ESU School of Library Information Management.