This book tells the surprising story of “God Bless America.” It begins with the song’s early history, from its composition in 1918 by Irving Berlin and its premiere performance by Kate Smith in 1938, then traces its reception, uses, and shifting meanings from the years preceding the United States’ entry into World War II, to its sudden popularity in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Moving to the present day, it explores the song’s recent use within professional baseball as a case study to understand the song’s varied functions and meanings in contemporary American life. The song’s hi ... More

This book tells the surprising story of “God Bless America.” It begins with the song’s early history, from its composition in 1918 by Irving Berlin and its premiere performance by Kate Smith in 1938, then traces its reception, uses, and shifting meanings from the years preceding the United States’ entry into World War II, to its sudden popularity in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Moving to the present day, it explores the song’s recent use within professional baseball as a case study to understand the song’s varied functions and meanings in contemporary American life. The song’s history reveals fascinating stories about American culture—shifting ideas about the role of composer and performer in popular music, about intervention and war, assimilation and acceptance of outsiders, the rise of the ideological Right, rifts between generations, and in definitions of Americanness itself. At the same time, tracing the song’s uses illuminates the role of secular communal singing in American public life. Such singing represents unique moments when music is interwoven into everyday life—not as a performance to be appreciated, but as a mode of civic participation, a vehicle for the forging and contesting of community ties.