Benny Goodman and the Swing Era

Rating:
Summary: A decent book on the 'King of Swing'
Review: Collier's book on Goodman is okay, but it could have been better. He has a bad habit of rarely if ever seeking primary sources. Instead he relies on past published materials, acting as an assimilator rather than a biographer. This leads to the needless perpetration of myths and errors rather than (as a biography should) the clarification and correction of facts. He also tends to psychoanalyze too much, sometimes making some huge leaps, while to the best of my knowledge he has no degree in psychology. A far better book on BG is Ross Firestone's "Swing Swing Swing," which breaks new ground and sheds some real light on Goodman and what drove him and what made him behave as erratically as he did, particularly in his later years.

Rating:
Summary: A decent book on the 'King of Swing'
Review: Collier's book on Goodman is okay, but it could have been better. He has a bad habit of rarely if ever seeking primary sources. Instead he relies on past published materials, acting as an assimilator rather than a biographer. This leads to the needless perpetration of myths and errors rather than (as a biography should) the clarification and correction of facts. He also tends to psychoanalyze too much, sometimes making some huge leaps, while to the best of my knowledge he has no degree in psychology. A far better book on BG is Ross Firestone's "Swing Swing Swing," which breaks new ground and sheds some real light on Goodman and what drove him and what made him behave as erratically as he did, particularly in his later years.