White Christmas: The Story of an American Song
By Jody Rosen
Writing a popular book about a popular song should merit some attention, so it’s not surprising that no less than four items appeared in The New York Times about this book. It’s supposed to be a book about one song. But, of course, it isn’t really. It’s a book about acculturation, assimilation and cultural impact. For readers of the Jewish Music WebCenter, these issues raised by White Christmas, may ultimately deal out the moral: we have only ourselves to “blame” –or– “congratulate” –as the view may be.
Irving Berlin, born as Izzy Baline, was of the generation of Jewish immigrants who wanted nothing more than to be thoroughly assimilated and thoroughly American. Berlin was one of the most successful examples of this, both in his personal and professional life.…
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