The Letters of Cole Porter

“[A] gorgeous book”—Roger Lewis, Daily Mail (Book of the Week)

“[An] extensive commentary”—Clive Davis, The Times

“an intimidating marvel of scholarship. . . . The Letters of Cole Porter amounts to the last word [on Porter], a work as disjointed and delightful as any of Porter’s unforgettable songs.”—David Kirby, Washington Post

“Porter’s ghost could not ask for better care than he has been given in The Letters of Cole Porter . . . . Laid out with a meticulous scholarly apparatus, as though this were the correspondence of Grover Cleveland, every turn in the songwriter’s story is deep-dived for exact chronology, and every name casually dropped by Porter gets a worried, explicatory footnote.”—Adam Gopnik, New Yorker 

“Cole Porter was considered one of the greatest songwriters of his time, and the originality, wit, and artistry, of both his music and his lyrics, have lost none of their lustre in the ensuing years. Yet his personal life has been clouded in mystery and gossip, much of it exaggerated or simply untrue. This new book offers the perfect solution: by reproducing a rich selection of Porter's letters from across his life and activities, the editors have allowed him to speak in his own words.”—Kevin Kline, actor and singer

“‘Well, did you evah!’ Cole Porter’s letters are full not just of delightful gossip but of the detail of working on Broadway and in Hollywood during the golden age of the American musical. ‘What a swell party it is!’—or at least was for Porter moving through high society across several continents. His words read as gloriously as his music sounds.”—Tim Carter, author of “Oklahoma!” The Making of an American Musical

“The considerable legacy of Cole Porter remains a powerful force in American music and this new collection of his letters is revelatory. It’s the closest we’ll ever get to an autobiography and is fascinating how a group of letters, sometimes written casually, collectively unmask previously hidden details about the man.”—Michael Feinstein, singer and Ambassador of The Great American Songbook

“A magnificently researched, compulsively readable, and delightfully “de-lovely” volume.”—Geoffrey Block, author of Richard Rodgers

“Essential to understanding the private man behind the public myths Porter himself so persistently perpetuated.”—Kim H. Kowalke, editor of Speak Low: The Letters of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya