November 18,
Complete (as of the time it was written) biography of one of the big-band era's best-known leaders. And Miller also was the only top orchestra leader to play a significant role during World War II, both in the U.S. and overseas, until he was lost over the English Channel on December 15, (See the recently published Glenn Miller Declassified for more detail on the latter stages of Miller's career.)
Simon's book is insightful and entertaining. Simon was a younger friend and supporter of Miller and, as a correspondent for the music-industry magazine "Metronome," was well-informed about bands and musicians of the s and s and frequently suggested musicians to Miller. Simon saw and experienced a variety of Miller's moods and sometimes-puzzling actions. Simon is honest about being a Miller admirer but also admits that he (Simon) sometimes resented Miller. The book in no way glosses over Miller's faults, but is fair and positive in total.
In addition to this book on Miller, I highly recommend George Simon's other books covering the big-band era and the "swing" and "sweet" groups and their leaders. See The Big Bands and The Big Bands Songbook.
I also suggest those interested in Glenn Miller and his era tune in to podcasts of "The Star-Spangled Radio Hour," a weekly series about s - s big bands produced by Dennis M. Spragg* of The Glenn Miller Collections at the University of Colorado's American Music Research Center. While "The Star-Spangled Radio Hour" has existed for 15 or more years, the web site includes perhaps 50 of the best from the past (re-posted in the past three years) and new episodes weekly in As you would expect, there's lots in the podcasts featuring Glenn Miller, including his WW II GI musical groups, but also much info on and music from Tommy Dorsey and Artie Shaw and a good smattering of music from other bands.
*Spragg is the author of Glenn Miller Declassified