Hij componeerde volgens een techniek die hij zelf ontwikkeld had, de zogeheten "twaalftoontonaliteit" en die verwant is aan de dodecafonie. Samen met Igor Stravinsky en Hans F. Redlic stichtte Perle in 1968 het Alban Berggenootschap. In 1986 kreeg Perle MacArthurprijs en een Pulitzerprijs voor zijn Vierde blaaskwintet.
Stewart Gordon: A History of Keyboard Literature. Music for the Piano and its Forerunners, New York: Schirmer Books, 1996, 566 p., ISBN 978-0-534-25197-0
John Warthen Struble: The history of American classical music: MacDowell through Minimalism, Facts on File, 1995, 444 p.
Wolfgang Suppan, Armin Suppan: Das Neue Lexikon des Blasmusikwesens, 4. Auflage, Freiburg-Tiengen, Blasmusikverlag Schulz GmbH, 1994, ISBN 3-923058-07-1
Victoria Etnier Villamil, Thomas Hampson (pref.): A singer's guide to the American art song 1870-1980, Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1993, 452 p.
Paul E. Bierley, William H. Rehrig: The heritage encyclopedia of band music: composers and their music, Westerville, Ohio: Integrity Press, 1991, ISBN 0-918048-08-7
Moshe Zorman: Music for solo violin 1950-1960 - A study in twentieth-century nontonal melodie writing as exemplifled in works by Perle, Shifrin, Ehrlich, Zimmerman, and sessions [and] "Landing lights". For a symphonie orchestra, City University of New York. 1985. dissertation.
Jeanne Belfy: The Louisville Orchestra New Music Project - An American experiment in the patronage of international contemporary music. Selected composers' letters to the Louisville Orchestra., Louisville, Kentucky: University of Louisville, 1983, 53 p.
Richard Swift: A tonal analog - The tone-centered music of George Perle, in: Perspectives of New Music. 21 (1982/83), S. 257-284.
Bruce Saylor: A new work by George Perle, in: The Musical Quarterly. 61 (1975), S. 471-475.
Leo Kraft: The music of George Perle, in: The Musical Quarterly. 57 (1971), S. 444-465.
Effie B. Carlson: A bio-bibliographical dictionary of twelve-tone and serial composers, Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1970, 233 p.
Lawrence K. Moss: George Perle: String Quintet, in: Perspectives of New Music. 3, Nr.1 (1964), S. 136-139.
Agnes Booe: A directory of contemporary California composers, Vol. 1, Sacramento: 1961, 33 p.