Wilfred Sheed is a writer (six novels) and a critic; the extended title of this book is "With a little help from Irving, Cole, and a crew of about fifty." Probably not necessary is to add the last names of Gershwin, Berlin, and Porter.

It's a trip in nostalgia and it's hard not to sing along. Sheed does not supply the sheet music, but he covers a history of American "standard songs," which those of us of a certain age know.

"There are several ways of defining and measuring an era, but an excellent place to start is by checking out the media of the day and what they could and could not do at the moment." Way back in the 1920s, radio and microphones enabled a personal and subtle style of singing.

"The familiar thirty-two-bar song . . . was fixed by the practicalities of sheet-music publishing and confirmedby the limitations of ten-inch records. "Sheed traces the development of this kind of song through immigrants to New York, African Americans, the influence of jazz, and ultimately to George Gershwin and "the crew."

First he introduces us to Irvin Berlin, who needs no introduction. His early jobs in the school of hard knocks and sweet music" prepared him for his lengthy career, his success beginning with "Alexander's Ragtime Band" and "his own kind of lightly syncopated, semi-black, and faintly Jewish melodies." Soldiers responded to "Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning," as did everyone to "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" or "What'll I Do."

"One can find nothing in Gershwin's immediate background to account either for his musical genius or the extraordinary aura and the magnanimity that seemed almost to flowout of the music, in the direction of other songwriters." He, of course, wrote classical music ("Rhapsody In Blue") as well as popular songs played today (at least I hope so) like "I Got Rhythm" and "Our Love Is Here to Stay."

The book is about the song writers, but acknowledgement is made of the singers who sang the songs, especially Bing Crosby and later Frank Sinatra. Often the songs were written with them and other performers in mind.

Sheed skillfully takes us through the stories of the other composers of the time, telling about their relationships with each other (especially Gershwin), and their successes and failures.

Some wrote only a few that became popular; others couldn't seem to miss. Among many composers and many, many examples are Harold Arlen ("Let's Fall In Love"); Hoagy Carmichael ("Stardust"); Duke Ellington ("I'm Beginning to See the Light"); Jerome Kern ("Make Believe"); Cole Porter ("Begin the Beguine"); Richard Rogers ("Where or When").

There are others. Most of them prospered on Broadway, and then made their way to Hollywood, where writers like Harry Warren did not become famous but had long and sometimes distinguished careers. Books and movies have been made about the famous ones, often not accurately. It is their music that lives on, even though the era of Rock and Roll and the rise of television with its different needs meant that American music had to change.

Sheed knew many of the subjects of his book, and he knows music. "Popular music," he says, "was far away our greatest contribution to the world's art supply."

Read The House That George Built at the Mary Willis Library, and see if you don't agree.