Irving Berlin

From the prizewinning Jewish Lives series: a fastmoving, musically astute portrait of Irving Berlin, arguably the greatest composer of American popular music "An extensively researched, entertaining, and nuanced account that contextualizes Berlins story and achievements within the scope of Jewish immigrant New York and modern American popular culture."Library Journal Irving Berlin (18881989) has been calledby George Gershwin, among othersthe greatest songwriter of the golden age of the American popular song. Berlin has no place in American music, legendary composer Jerome Kern wrote; he is American music. In a career that spanned an astonishing nine decades, Berlin wrote some fifteen hundred tunes, including Alexanders Ragtime Band, God Bless America, and White Christmas. From ragtime to the rock era, Berlins work has endured in the very fiber of American national identity. Exploring the interplay of Berlins life with the life of New York City, noted biographer James Kaplan offers a visceral narrative of Berlin as selfmade man and witty, wily, tough Jewish immigrant. This fastpaced, musically opinionated biography uncovers Berlins unique brilliance as a composer of music and lyrics. Masterfully written and psychologically penetrating, Kaplans book underscores Berlins continued relevance in American popular culture. About Jewish Lives: Jewish Lives is a prizewinning series of interpretative biography designed to explore the many facets of Jewish identity. Individual volumes illuminate the imprint of Jewish figures upon literature, religion, philosophy, politics, cultural and economic life, and the arts and sciences. Subjects are paired with authors to elicit lively, deeply informed books that explore the range and depth of the Jewish experience from antiquity to the present. In 2014, the Jewish Book Council named Jewish Lives the winner of its Jewish Book of the Year Award, the first series ever to receive this award. More praise for Jewish Lives: Excellent. New York times Exemplary. Wall St. Journal Distinguished. New Yorker Superb. The Guardian