What really went on at those Nevada divorce ranches?
COMING DECEMBER 2023
In Paperback and eBook
FLIPBOOK PREVIEW
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 “Biggest Little City” 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 for wealthy Easterners and Hollywood celebrities. He entertained socialites with names like Astor and du Pont, and Hollywood movie stars Clark Gable and Ava Gardner.
Bill McGee recaptures Reno’s era as “Divorce Capital of the World” in his stories and and 180 vintage images.
“Bill McGee’s stories are like an old 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 given us the only memoir written 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
Napa Valley Friends!
Meet Wrangler/Writer Bill McGee
In Reno Memories produced by Cloverland for Twentieth Century Fox. In the Cinema Classics DVD Collection with Charlie Chan in Reno.