Bing Crosby, Gary Giddins
Bing Crosby, Gary Giddins
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Bing Crosby
Swinging on a Star; The War Years, 1940–1946

Author: Gary Giddins

Narrator: Grover Gardner

Unabridged: 26 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/25/2021

Synopsis

In this companion book to the award–winning biography Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams; The Early Years, 1903–1940, Gary Giddins presents the second volume of his masterful work.Bing Crosby dominated American popular culture in a way that few artists ever have. From the dizzying 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, from the way it was recorded to the way it was orchestrated and performed.In this much-anticipated follow-up to the universally acclaimed first volume, acclaimed music critic Gary Giddins now focuses on Crosby’s most memorable period, the war years and the origin story of White Christmas.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 American entertainment and culture. While he would go on to reshape both popular music and cinema more comprehensively than any other artist, Crosby’s legacy would be forever intertwined with his impact on the home front, a unifying voice for a nation at war.Over a decade in the making and drawing on hundreds of interviews and unprecedented access to numerous archives, Giddins brings Bing Crosby, his work, and his world to vivid life—firmly reclaiming Crosby’s central role in American cultural history.

About Gary Giddins

Gary Giddins was a long-time columnist for the Village Voice and is a preeminent jazz critic who received the 1998 National Book Critics Circle Award, the Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award, and the Bell Atlantic Award for Visions of Jazz: The First Century. His other books include Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams—The Early Years, 1903–1940, which won the Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award and the ARSC Award for Excellence in Historical Sound Research; Weatherbird: Jazz at the Dawn of Its Second Century; Faces in the Crowd; Natural Selection; and biographies of Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker. He has won an unparalleled six ASCAP–Deems Taylor Awards, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Peabody Award in Broadcasting.

About Grover Gardner

Grover Gardner is an award-winning narrator with over a thousand titles to his credit. Named one of the “Best Voices of the Century” and a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine, he has won three prestigious Audie Awards.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Judith on November 08, 2018

Mr. Giddins has written a meticulously researched biography of one of the 20th century's finest singers, Bing Crosby. It is recommended that Volume I is read before "Swinging on a Star: The War Years 1940-1946" is read. This is not an authorized biography but has been written with the cooperation of......more

Goodreads review by Rich on November 12, 2022

Like the first book, ''Pocketful of Dreams,'' which carries us swiftly from Crosby's childhood to his early success, this is a rich tapestry of our culture, and for those of us who thought they knew something about Bing Crosby, a startling, moving revelation. As a singer myself who grew up beguiled......more

Goodreads review by Greg on December 29, 2018

A good work of non-fiction doesn’t require your interest in a subject. It requires a writer capable of making you interested in the subject. Gary Giddins is a terrific evangelist who never stoops to worship. (Full disclosure: I’ve been waiting for this damn book for 16 years. It did not disappoint.)......more

Goodreads review by Jamie on December 26, 2018

I'd been looking forward to this book for 17 years, and it did not disappoint. I read it slowly, highlighting many passages along the way. I think there were two parts to the book that I especially enjoyed. The first was the behind-the-scenes look at the movie business in the 1940s. I really enjoyed......more

Goodreads review by Gary on December 31, 2018

An excellent follow up, 17 years later, to volume one. That book covered 36 years. This volume, equally long, covers six years! But they are crucial years in the life of our country as well as the life of this great entertainer. I just hope the wait is shorter for volume three.......more

Quotes

“Worth the wait…[An] evocative portrait of a man and a historical moment.” Washington Post

“Giddins lays his findings out with impressive clarity…His scholarship and thoroughness earn the highest marks.” New York Times Book Review

“[Giddins] magnifies six years that confirm Crosby’s primacy among the searchlights of American music and identity.” Downbeat Magazine

“Someone has to make the case for Crosby’s historical importance—and fortunately for Bing, Gary Giddins has taken up the gauntlet with surprising vehemence. Mr. Giddins is one of the leading music critics of the last half-century.” Wall Street Journal

“Scintillating…Packs exhaustive research and detail into his sprawling narrative while keeping the prose relaxed and vivid…Giddins’s engrossing show-biz bio richly recreates the popular culture he helped define.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“The brilliance of Giddins’ work: he makes us see how, in a very different time, Crosby’s easy going, waggish style was just what the country craved, on records and radio, at the movies, and in person. Tony Bennett may have said it best: “Bing taught everyone to relax.” Booklist (starred review)

“The author impressively maintains a balanced view of Crosby’s complex character…A deeply researched and thoroughly engrossing biography that confirms Crosby’s essential role in the history of American music and film.” Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

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