This is a history of "Porgy and Bess", a novel, play and Gershwin's musical. This book includes a celebration of one of America's great cultural achievements, and tells how the young George Gershwin became entranced by the operatic possibilities of cripple Porgy and his fatally flawed Bess. The author takes the reader from Hollywood's original novel through to the present day. Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" has involved stars such as John W.Bubbles, L. Price, Cab Calloway, Samuel Goldwyn, Sidney Poitier and Trevor Nunn and acts as a reflection of the changing attitudes of both black and white performers and audiences.