Raised on the periphery of the American-Jewish elite, the composer Jerome Kern achieved early success and spent the remainder of his life among the rich and famous. However, Gerald Bordman shows in this comprehensive biography that Kern's celebrity was fully merited. Between 1914, when "They Didn't Believe Me" became a popular ballad, and his death in 1945, Kern produced innovative and enduring works of popular music. With the musical "Show Boat" he initiated an Americanized operetta style that dominated the American stage for decades.