Bing Crosby, Swinging on a Star: The War Years, 1940 - 1946 by Gary Giddins
Bing Crosby, Swinging on a Star: The War Years, 1940 - 1946 by Gary Giddins
Bing Crosby dominated American popular culture in a way that few artists ever have. From the dizzy era of Prohibition through the dark days of the Second World War, he was a desperate nation's most beloved entertainer. But he was more than just a charismatic crooner: Bing Crosby redefined the very foundations of modern music, transforming not only the way it was performed, but also the way it was interpreted and recorded.
In the second volume on Crosby's life, Gary Giddins masterfully re-creates the years when some of Crosby's most enduring work -- "White Christmas" and Swinging on a Star," Holiday Inn, Going My Way, The Bells of St. Mary's, and the first four Road movies -- was accomplished; when the seeds of the many changes he ushered into the film, broadcasting, and music businesses were planted; and when an astounding number of his projects across and in and out of show business broke barriers and helped define society, manhood, and responsibility during the war years and beyond. While he would go on to reshape both Americana and Hollywood more comprehensively than any other artist had before, Crosby's legacy would be forever intertwined with his impact on the home front, a unifying voice for a nation at war.
Set against the backdrop of a Europe on the brink of collapse, this groundbreaking work traces Crosby's skyrocketing career as he fully inhabits a new era of entertainment and culture. Over a decade in the making and drawing on hundreds of interviews and unprecedented access to several archives, Giddins's biography finally brings Bing Crosby, his work, and his world to vivid life -- firmly reclaiming Crosby's central role in American history.
Little, Brown & Company, Hardcover, 1st Edition, 1st Printing, 2018
THIS IS A BRAND NEW BOOK. THERE IS A BLACK "CLOSEOUT/REMAINDER" MARK ON THE TOP PAGE EDGES.