Nightmare in the Pacific

Artie Shaw took his clarinet to war, where he roused the troops and paid the price. A pugnacious and strong-willed musician, Shaw abandoned civilian celebrity to lead World War II’s most colorful navy band on an island-hopping odyssey that raised military morale but brought him into dark waters. Nightmare in the Pacific: The World War II Saga of Artie Shaw and his Navy Band recounts the offbeat wartime adventures of the bandleader and the musicians he recruited for the hard-swinging outfit popul