Gunsmoke: An American Institution: Celebrating 50 Years of Television's Best Western

Starting on September 10, 1955, and continuing for more than 600 episodes over the next twenty years, Gunsmoke ruled the airwaves. Never in the history of television had a show so captured the hearts of the American public. Each week, Marshal Matt Dillon and his friends would face a new threat to the peace and lawfulness of their frontier home of Dodge City, Kansas. And each week, goodness and determination prevailed. In recognition of this, the show’s golden anniversary, author Ben Costello has produced a remarkable testament to the on-screen and off-screen individuals who made the story lines come alive.