This book really did not go into anything that I already did not know. I was expecting some kind of new information but there is nothing. Really only good if you don't know the story.

I was excited to see Glenn Miller Declassified by Dennis M. Spragg from Potomac Books since my mother grew up in the era of Swing and Big Bands and often spoke of her adventures as a young girl going to the various locations in Southern California to see the well known bands of the time. She spoke of Glenn Miller's strange disappearance and I thought this would be an interesting book. I found Dennis Spragg wrote and interesting very well researched account of what happened to the Big Band leader who received a special commission of Captain in the US Army and whose plane disappeared en route to France from England without a trace. The research is amazing though there were times it was a bit slow going but over all this is a very good book.
Thank you Dennis M. Spragg, Potomac Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

I can’t fault this book for its extensive and meticulous research but I fear I wasn’t the intended readership. I think you really have to be a Glenn Miller nerd to be able to plough through the detail, especially the technical detail, not to feel somewhat overwhelmed and, quite frankly, bored at times. I’ve just watched an excellent PBS documentary about the same subject and I enjoyed that so much more. Not such preoccupation with engines and planes and forms and protocol. So while I can appreciate that this is an important and authoritative investigation into the disappearance of Glenn Miller I can really only recommend it to the die-hard fan.

An excellent and very informative account. Highly detailed and very interesting-particularly as my dad and I are both musicians. My dad played Tenor Sax in a dance band so it was an engrossing read for him too.

This book is the fruit of extensive research, which is good, but reads more like extensive notes than a book, which is bad. No doubt future scholars who plan on writing biographies of the band leader will find all this minutia helpful (and there is plenty to be found), but for the reader it's a tough, very tough, slog.

A few examples are more than enough to show what I mean. The author lists every single crewman and several of the mechanics of planes carrying Miller, his officers, or his band. I learned that Henry Mancini had been a student at Julliard. He is never mentioned again and, except that he was a musican and in WWII, has nothing to do with this story. Writers know enough that extensive use of abbreviations and acronyms, note takers use them extensively because they are a great shorthand. This book has them in use constantly. Somtimes it seems as if there are dozens in a paragraph. Throughout there are many sentences that have 3, largely unfamiliar outside this book, abbreviations. These things certainly don't make me compelled to learn the story, they just make the book dull and difficult to read.

The death of Miller is one that been plagued by uncertainity and one that has given ruse to many different theories. Once he gets down to it he does an excellent job of justifying his theory and disproving others. Even here though, the book is plagued by that "research note" feel.

Given this, I cannot in all honesty recommend this book, unless you are planning to use it as the basis for your own, more readable, biography.

I was thrilled to be able to review this outstanding biography of Glenn Miller, world-famous musician and bandleader. Starting from humble roots but having a love for music and song writing from an early age, Glenn Miller started his career in a number of bands he joined and created. After the beginning of World War II, Glenn received a special commission as Captain in the U. S Army. He began setting up appearances of many AAF (Army Air Force) bands and became the director soon after. He proposed the Organization of the AAFTTC Music Program in 1943 that called for a network of singers, musicians and bands to form national and military-wide for the entertainment of our armed forces. He was an outstanding musician who made a huge sacrifice of his career for the good of the country and to entertain the armed forces.
Though I was not alive during the Glenn Miller years, I am the daughter of a proud veteran of World War II who served in the Burma, South Pacific front. My mother began her teaching career at a Naval base in Southeast Texas, teaching children/dependents of servicemen. My mother told me stories of the dances at the USO, the favorite recreation of those serving and working on the base. Of course, my mother's favorite band was the Glenn Miller band. Oh how I remember all the music and jitterbug dancing that my parents and their friends loved to do! So smooth and sweet! I grew up on "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" but my favorite song by Glenn Miller was "In The Mood"! Now my mother is almost 94 but we still "swing" to the music! I definitely recommend this interesting biography of a man who loved his country and treated everyone to some of the most fun, snappy, music ever!

Glenn Miller Declassified by Dennis M. Spragg will be available September 1, 2017 from Potomac Books, an imprint of the University of Nebraska Press. An egalley of this book was made available by the publisher in exchange for a honest review.