The George Gershwin Reader

“A superb source book about a cornerstone figure in American Music...an indelible contribution to the very idea of American culture and how it got that way. Letters and pieces by Gershwin himself are prominent, but the book will go anywhere and everywhere to catch a glimpse of his raffish genius in the sunlight.... You get, then, Gershwin from many, if not all sides and seen through a huge variety of lenses.” —Buffalo News

“How refreshing and exciting to see once again these surprises—and more—from the Gershwin scrapbooks, archives, private collections (some lost), in one cornucopia; the sweeping life of a wonderful great American master.” —Edward Jablonski, author of Gershwin, Gershwin Remembered, and The Gershwin Years

“The George Gershwin Reader, edited by Robert Wyatt and John Andrew Johnson, is a necessity for any lover of Gershwin's music. The book's well-selected contents, which range from some of Gershwin's letters to contemporary reviews to more recent studies and reminiscences, bring home the truth of Ira Gershwin's statement: 'In person, my brother was a good deal like his music.' ” —Claudia Roth Pierpont, The New Yorker

“A fascinating collection of articles, biographical reminiscences, reviews, musical analyses, and letters relating to the life and music of George Gershwin.”—Library Journal

“From early in Gershwin's career his music challenged Americans to rethink their assumptions about composition and performance, nationalism, cultural hierarchy, and the racial divide. Documenting that rethinking process, Wyatt and Johnson's reader also illuminates the life and legacy of one of American music's most charismatic figures.” —Richard Crawford, University of Michigan