Memory of All That: The Life of George Gershwin

In her startling, revealing new biography, Joan Peyser gives us a brand-new George Gershwin. Although there have been other biographies of Gershwin that chronicle the dates of his compositions and performances, The Memory of All That is the first to examine the real Gershwin. Joan Peyser shows us the songwriter who became a composer, struggling - in vain - to achieve recognition in serious-music circles. She describes how the criticism that greeted his compositions after the success of Rhapsody in Blue, due largely to anti-Semitic and anti-American musical prejudices, left him disappointed and, eventually, anguished. Ms. Peyser examines the relationship between George and his brother and collaborator, Ira, whose lyrics, she believes, constitute a sort of coded biography of George's life, complete with references to the women with whom he was having affairs. The Memory of All That also contains revelations that have already generated controversy. Ms. Peyser reveals that the brain tumor