Oscar Hammerstein II and the Invention of the Musical

"Laurie Winer’s wonderfully entertaining and deeply researched book paints a fascinating portrait of Oscar Hammerstein and successfully examines the usually ineffable art of collaboration in the theater. A must-read for anyone interested in the American musical."—James Lapine, librettist of Into the Woods

"This engaging work is the sharpest, most insightful, most readable, and most optimistic of all the books about Oscar Hammerstein. It provides education and pleasure in equal measure."—Michael Feinstein, founder of The Great American Songbook Foundation

"What an impressive achievement! Laurie Winer’s book offers new insights into Oscar Hammerstein II’s ground-breaking achievements."—Robert Kimball, Musical Theater Historian

"A magnificent, seminal and definitive book written as biographies ought to be. Winer brings to life a time and place in the history of theater. I now know who Oscar Hammerstein really was."—André Bishop, Artistic Director, Lincoln Center Theater

“Laurie Winer’s fascinating and beautifully written biography makes an inspiring case for Oscar Hammerstein as the American musical’s greatest innovator and one of the American theatre’s greatest dramatists.”—Nicholas Hytner, director