George Graham Vest: The Life and Times of Dog's Best Friend
Although the saying “Dog is man’s best friend,” is well known, the man who originally coined the phrase is less celebrated in modern times. However, in the late 1800s, George Graham Vest was a distinguished attorney and politician widely admired for his skills in oration and debate.
George Graham Vest—The Life and Times of Dog’s Best Friend provides a detailed look at Vest, who was born and raised in Frankfort, Kentucky but later practiced law in central Missouri, serving the “Show Me State” in the Missouri House of representatives, the Confederate Congress, the Confederate Senate, and later the U.S. Senate, with more than 30 years in public office. Vest was known as a champion for the rights of Native Americans, helped establish Yellowstone National Park, and was called a man of genius by his contemporaries whose skill in debate was never equaled.
Written by Stephen M. Vest, a descendant who is also known for his command of the English language, George Graham Vest is a fitting biography to one of America’s best statesmen, long overdue.
Stephen M. Vest is the editor and publisher of Kentucky Monthly, a Governor Award in the Arts (Media) honoree. Founded in 1998, Kentucky Monthly has more than 100,000
readers.
He is the author of Unexpected Inheritance (Butler Books, 2014), a memoir about being raised by older parents and a hard-to-please grandmother, two collections of columns, including THAT Kind of Journalist (2008), and the publisher of the 2012 anthology Kentucky’s Twelve Days of Christmas with editor James B. Goode.
Vest holds journalism and English degrees from the University of Louisville and Murray State University (MFA-Creative Nonfiction). His work has appeared in newspapers nationwide, including The Journal of Kentucky Studies, Still, and the anthology Of Woods and Waters (2005) by Ron Ellis.
A frequent speaker, Vest teaches communications at Campbellsville University, public speaking at Midway University, and feature writing and storytelling at Eastern Kentucky University. He and his wife, Kay, live in Frankfort, Kentucky. They have four grown children—Christopher, Katy, Molly and Sydney.
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