Why Sinatra Matters

Why Sinatra Matters

From the publisher...

In this unique tribute, veteran journalist and award winning author Pete Hamill remembers Frank Sinatra. Drawing upon intimate conversations over the course of many years, Hamill evokes the essence of Sinatra - examining his art and his legend from the inside. Shaped by Prohibition, the Depression, and war, Sinatra became the troubadour of urban loneliness; he was one of the few artists of the twentieth century to break through an ethnic parochialism that imprisoned so many of the turn-of-the-century immigrants and their children. With his songs, he enabled millions of others to tell their own stories, thus providing an entire generation with a sense of tradition and pride belonging distinctly to them.

Produts of the same urban landscape, both Hamill and Sinatra can be credited with giving the American city a voice. Hamill writes with infused introspection about the cultural importance of legends in young lives and how the myths and heroes of youth urged a generation to greatness. For Hamill, Sinatra is such a story. Bound up in the history and climate of a younger, and in many ways tougher, America, Sinatraat once represents loyalty, remorse, humility, strength and success. This is a rich and touching portrait that lingers like a beautiful song.