But as Gary Giddins amply demonstrates in his biography “Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams, The Early Years, 1903-1940,” Bing was an instant hit on records and radio, and in the movies.

Giddins visits Spokane Nov. 1 to promote his new book, Bing Crosby: Swinging on a Star: The War Years, 1940-1946, at the Bing at 2 pm and Gonzaga's Hemmingson Center at 7 pm.

It’s been almost 18 years since the publication of “Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams,” Gary Giddins’s intelligent and formidably well-informed biography covering the entertainer’s life ...

18 Holes with Bing: Golf, Life and Lessons from Dad, By Nathaniel Crosby and John Strege, Dey St. Books, $23, hardback, 212 pages “Straight Down the Middle” is one of the great golf sings ...

75 years after it debuted on Bing Crosby’s radio show, the Irving Berlin tune “White Christmas” remains one of the most popular and beloved compositions in the American musical canon. It’s ...

(The book ends with “Road to Singapore,” Bing’s first movie with Bob Hope; volume two will cover the big movie years, “White Christmas,” his second family and charges of son-whupping ...