The life of composer Richard Rodgers encapsulates the very essence of New York and London high society during the first half of the twentieth century and his brilliant twenty-five year collaboration with Lorenz Hart gave rise to songs that will live forever: 'Manhattan', 'The Lady is a Tramp', and 'Blue Moon' are just a few of them. He later collaborated with Oscar Hammerstein II and together they wrote classics such as OKLAHOMA, SOUTH PACIFIC, CAROUSEL, THE KING AND I and THE SOUND OF MUSIC. In her outstanding biography Secrest sets the scenes for five decades of American musical history. It is also the intriguing portrait of a complex man: personable, sunny and seductive. Though riddled with insecurities, he was a composer unequalled, not just for longevity but output - thirty-nine musicals, more than a thousand songs, rediscovered and adored by successive generations around the world.