Long before the silver screen showed the face of Mary Pickford to millions of Americans, Annie Oakley, born as Phoebe Anne Oakley Moses on August 13, 1860, had won the right to the title of “America’s Sweetheart.” Having grown up learning to shoot game to help support her family, Annie won first prize and met Frank Butler at a shooting match when she was fifteen years old. He convinced her to change her name to Annie Oakley and became her husband, manager, and number-one fan for the next fifty years. Annie quickly gained worldwide fame as an incredible crack shot, and could amaze audiences at her uncanny accuracy with nearly any rifle or pistol, whether aiming at stationary objects or shooting fast-flying targets from the cockpit of a moving airplane. In August 1903, when she was well known as a champion shot in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, Oakley became a target of defamation by a reporter for a newspaper owned by media magnate William Randolph Hearst. The libelous story alleged that the famous sure shot had been arrested for stealing and buying drugs. Annie sent a telegram denying the claim and asked the story to be retracted. Hearst refused and the story was then published in all his newspapers. Miss Oakley responded with a libel suit and spent seven years in court fighting the well-known businessman. During the long, drawn-out legal battle, Annie was struggling with health issues. Despite these trials she poured her energy into advocating for the US military, encouraging women to engage in sport shooting, and supporting orphans. The Life and Times of America's First Sweetheart Long before the screen placed the face of Mary Pickford before the eyes of millions of Americans, Phoebe Anne Oakley Moses--aka "Annie Oakley"--had won the right to the title of the first "America's Sweetheart." The life story of Annie Oakley is a combination Cinderella fairy story and frontier melodrama. Born in a humble log cabin in Ohio in 1860, young Annie began shooting game to help support her six siblings and twice-widowed mother. At fifteen, she entered a shooting contest where she ended up winning first prize by outshooting her future husband, who also became her manager. She became well known and loved worldwide for her incredible shooting performances with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, where she captured the hearts of young and old, ruffians and royalty. But she fought many battles along the way--for her life after severe accidents, and for her reputation after becoming the subject of a scandal that spread through the media like wildfire. Throughout her triumphs and trials, however, Annie Oakley never failed to advocate for the causes and individuals about which she was most passionate. Chris Enss is a New York Times best-selling author who has been writing about women of the Old West for more than twenty years. She has penned more than forty published books on the subject. Her work has been honored with six Will Rogers Medallion Awards, two Elmer Kelton Book Awards, the Downing Journalism Award, and an Oklahoma Center for the Book Award. Enss’s most recent works are According to Kate: The Legendary Life of Big Nose Kate, Love of Doc Holliday; No Place for a Woman: The Struggle for Suffrage in the Wild West; and Iron Women: The Ladies Who Helped Build the Railroad. Howard Kazanjian is an award-winning producer and entertainment executive who has been producing feature films and television programs for more than twenty-five years.