George Gershwin

“Pollack presents a fresh stance on the legendary composer in a monumental biography. . . . A fascinating narrative of Gershwin’s life. . . . Pollack’s meticulous penchant for detail is evident throughout the biography, making it not only a definitive source for musicologists and scholars, but also a reference tool for general readers and music lovers curious about Gershwin and the American musical landscape in the early decades of the twentieth century.”

— Opera Journal

“An impressive new biography. . . . With George Gershwin: His Life and Work, Pollack emerges as the leading chronicler of important 20th-century American classical-music figures.”

— Houston Chronicle

“Pollack’s Gershwin promises to reach a wide readership . . . Musicologists and students can look to the book as a model of meticulously researched and lucidly written musical biography, and the works section as a useful starting point for more in-depth research on specific pieces.”

— Institute for Studies in American Music

“Music buffs will undoubtedly find this formidable presentation to be most enlightening and interesting . . . Pollack is to be congratulated for his significant contribution to understanding George Gershwin.”

— Jewish Post & Opinion

“The writing on his [Gershwin’s] music is invaluable. . . . This is some of the best musical analysis you're likely to find anywhere.”

— Toronto Globe & Mail

“Pollack . . . has examined his subject’s accomplishment’s and reputation with admirable industry and thoughtfulness, and has raised the important questions about Gershwin’s rightful standing in the American pantheon.”

— American Prospect

“Pollack has the advantage of perspective and new materials discovered in a warehouse in 1982. . . . [He] treats Gershwin as primarily a composer for the theater and therefore focuses on the many forms theater music may assume. There are synopses of the stories for each of Gershwin's shows, many of which cannot be found elsewhere. The depth of detail and research into Gershwin's works (more than 100 pages of endnotes) makes this an essential purchase for all libraries and one of the best books available on Gershwin.”

— Library Journal

“Pollack examines many of the composer’s films, recordings, and critical writings; he provides, for each of Gershwin’s shows, a synopsis of the story, details about the cast, and other aspects of its first production. With 51 black-and-white photographs, this engaging biography is also a tour de force of scholarship.”

— Booklist

“This thick and heavy tome may appear forbidding at first, especially to the nonscholar who just wants to know the important stuff, but Gershwin's output was greater than anything that can be written about it, and Pollack has here created the ultimate guide.”

— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“Who'd have guessed that a scholarly, in-depth biography of a long-dead, faintly enigmatic musician would be such a gripping read? Howard Pollack hits every note of Gershwin's brief existence with facts, anecdotes and speculations, seeking inspirational sources for his early work. The result is a meticulous, frank look at a gifted celebrity of the 1920s and '30s, and the ways in which developing technology, from printed sheet music to Pianolas to radio, affected Gershwin's life and music. The level of detail is breathtaking. . . . Pollack's writing style resembles Gershwin's music. It's tightly wrought, witty and gets straight to the point.”

— Charleston Post & Courier

“Authoritative, exhaustive and bang-up-to-date, this is a modern classic.”

— Classic FM Magazine