Books for adult readers

A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs, 1910-1965
Site Support Notebook

Lehman, David.  A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs.  Nextbook/Schocken, 2009.

Armitage, Merle, ed.  George Gershwin (A Memorial Volume).  Da Capo Press, 1995.

Barrett, Mary Ellin.  Irving  Berlin: A Daughter’s Memoir.  Simon and Schuster, 1994.

Barrios, Richard. A Song in the Dark: The Birth of the Musical Film. Oxford University Press, 1995.

Bergreen, Laurence.  As Thousands Cheer: The Life of Irving Berlin.  Penguin, 1990.

Bloom, Ken.  The American Songbook:  The Singers, Songwriters and the Songs.  Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers, 2005.

Fordin, Hugh.  Getting to Know Him: The Biography of Oscar Hammerstein II.  Random House, 1977.

Friedwald, Will.  Sinatra!  The Song Is You.  Scribner, 1995.

Furia, Philip.  Ira Gershwin: The Art of the Lyricist.  Oxford University Press, 1996.
——Irving Berlin: A Life in Song.   Schirmer, 1998.
——The Poets of Tin Pan Alley: A History of America’s Great Lyricists. Oxford University Press, 1990.

Greenspan, Charlotte.  Pick Yourself Up: Dorothy Fields and the American Musical. Oxford University Press, 2010.

Hal Leonard Corporation. The Great American Songbook - The Composers: Music and Lyrics for Over 100 Standards from the Golden Age of American Song (Piano/Vocal/Guitar Songbook), 2007.

Hischak, Thomas S. The Oxford Companion to the Great American Musical: Theatre, Film and Television. Oxford University Press, 2008.

Hyland, William G.  George Gershwin: A New Biography.  Praeger, 2003.
——The Song Is Ended: Songwriters and American Music, 1900-1950.  Oxford University Press, 1995.

Jablonski, Edward.  Harold Arlen: Happy with the Blues.  Doubleday, 1961.

Kimball, Robert and Robert Gottlieb, eds.  Reading Lyrics.  Pantheon, 2000.

Kimball, Robert and Alfred Simon.  Composers’ Voices from Ives to Ellington: An Oral History of American Music.  Yale University Press, 2005.

Loesser, Arthur.  Men, Women, and Pianos: A Social History.  Simon and Schuster, 1954.

Loesser, Susan.  A Most Remarkable Fella: Frank Loesser and the Guys and Dolls in His Life: A Portrait by His Daughter.  Hal Leonard Corporation, 2000.

Marx, Samuel and Jan Clayton.  Rodgers and Hart: Bewitched, Bothered, and BeDeviled. Putnam, 1976.

Melnick, Jeffrey.  A Right to Sing the Blues: African Americans, Jews, and American Popular Song.  Harvard University Press, 1999.

Meyerson, Harold and Ernie Harburg. Who Put the Rainbow in the Wizard of Oz?: Yip Harburg, Lyricist.  University of Michigan Press, 1995.

Morath, Max.  The NPR Curious Listener’s Guide to Popular Standards. Penguin Putnam, Berkley Publishing, A Perigee Book, 2002.

Most, Andrea.  Making Americans: Jews and the Broadway Musical. Harvard University Press, 2004.

Nolan, Frederick.  Lorenz Hart: A Poet on Broadway.  Oxford University Press, 1994. 

Pollack, Howard.  George Gershwin: His Life and Work. University of California Press, 2006.

Riis, Thomas L.  Frank Loesser.  Yale University Press, 2008.

Rimler, Walter. George Gershwin: An Intimitate Memoir. University of Illinois Press, 2009.

Rodgers, Richard.  Musical Stages.  1975, reprint by Da Capo Press, 2002.

Rosen, Jody.  White Christmas: The Story of an American Song.  Scribner, 2002.

Secrest, Meryle.  Somewhere for Me: A Biography of Richard Rodgers.  Applause, 2001.

Sheed, Wilfrid.  The House That George Built.  Random House, 2007.

Suskin, Steven.  Show Tunes: The Songs, Shows, and Careers of Broadway’s Major Composers. 3rd ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.

Wilder, Alec.  American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, 1900-1950.  Oxford University Press, 1990.

Wilk, Max.  They’re Playing Our Song: Conversations with America’s Classic Songwriters.  Da Capo Press, 1997; Easton Studio Press, 2008.

Winer, Deborah.  On the Sunny Side of the Street: The Life and Lyrics of Dorothy Fields.  Schirmer Books, 1997.

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