Bing Crosby's innovations as recording artist, actor, businessman, and radio and television performer. A multidisciplinary exploration, plus personal testimony from family members and colleagues.Going My Way: Bing Crosby and American Culture is the first serious study of the singer/actor's art and of his centrality to the history of twentieth-century popular music, film, and the entertainment industry. The volume uses a wide range of scholarly and cultural perspectives to explore Crosby's unique and lasting achievements. It also includes tributes and reminiscences from Bing's widow Kathryn, his grandson Steve, his record producer Ken Barnes, and one of his most popular successors, Michael Feinstein. Other contributors include Gary Giddins, the author of a widely acclaimed recent biography of the singer, and Will Friedwald, the acknowledged expert on the developmentof the "great American songbook." In addition to studying Bing Crosby's innovations and remarkable achievements as a recording artist, Going My Way explores his accomplishments as an actor, businessman, and radio and television performer. Going My Way makes an impressive case not only for Crosby's considerable talent and inimitable style, but also for his raising the quality of popular singing to the level of art. Contributors: Ken Barnes, Samuel L. Chell, Kathryn Crosby, Steven C. Crosby, John Mark Dempsey, Bernard F. Dick, Deborah Dolan, Michael Feinstein, Will Friedwald, Jeanne Fuchs, Gary Giddins, Peter Hammar, M. Thomas Inge, Malcolm MacFarlane, Eric Michael Mazur, Martin McQuade, Elaine Anderson Phillips, Ruth Prigozy, Walter Raubicheck, Linda A. Robinson, Stephen C. Shafer, David White, F.W. Wiggins Ruth Prigozy is Professor of English at Hofstra University. Walter Raubicheck is Professor of English and Chair of the English Department at Pace University.

Introduction: Bing Crosby -- Nothing Is What It Seems - Gary GiddinsAnalogies of Ignorance in Going My Way - David E. WhiteGoing My Way?: Crosby and Catholicism on the Road to America - Eric Michael MazurSaint Bing: Apatheia, Masculine Desire, and the Films of Bing Crosby - Elaine Anderson PhillipsBing on a Binge: Casting-Against-Type in The Country Girl - Linda A. RobinsonBing Crosby: Rock 'n' Roll Godfather - John Mark DempseyAmerican Archetypes: How Crosby and Hope Became Hollywood's Greatest Comedy Team - Walter RaubicheckCrosby at Paramount: From Crooner to Actor - Bernard F. DickBing Crosby, Walt Disney, and Ichabod Crane - M. Thomas IngeA Couple of Song and Dance Men: Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire - Jeanne FuchsRivalries: The Mutual Mentoring of Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra - Samuel J. ChellFrom Crooner to American Icon: Caricatures of Bing Crosby in American Cartoons from the 1930s to the 1950s - Stephen C. ShaferNot Just "The Crooner": Bing Crosby's Research and Business Endeavors in World War II - Deborah DolanBing's Entertainment and War Bond Sales Activities During World War II - Malcolm MacfarlaneBing Crosby's Magnetic Tape Revolution - Peter Hammar and Martin McQuadeThe Bing Crosby Fan Clubs - F. B. (Wig) WigginsConclusion: Bing Crosby -- Architect of Twentieth-Century Style - Will FriedwaldSing, Bing, Sing - Kathryn CrosbyThoughts on Relationships: Father, Son, Grandson - Steven CrosbyThe Real Bing Crosby - Ken Barnes