Author talk with Ben Yagoda, author of The B Side: The Death of Tin Pan Alley and the Rebirth of the Great American Song

Everybody knows and loves the American Songbook, but few remember that this stream of great songs nearly vanished in the early 1950s. All of a sudden, “How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?” replaced Gershwin, Porter, and Berlin on the radio. In The B Side, acclaimed cultural historian Ben Yagoda explores the reasons behind the shift in a fascinating piece of detective work. Drawing on previously untapped archival sources, The B Side illuminates broad musical trends through a series of intertwined stories. Yagoda is a journalism professor at the University of Delaware. He contributes to the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Lingua Franca blog and has written for Slate and the New York Times Magazine.