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On Michael Jackson
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Product Description
Product Description
Margo Jefferson’s On Michael Jackson is a lucid and elegant cultural analysis of the rise and fall of the King of Pop.An award-winning cultural critic, Jefferson brings an unexpected compassion as well as her sharp intellect and incomparable insight to Jackson’s 2005 trial for child molestation, startling us with her erudite illumination of a media-drenched circus that we only thought we understood. As only she can, Jefferson reads between the lines of Jackson’s 1998 autobiography as well as published accounts of his childhood, his family, and Motown—where Michael and his brothers first made the Jackson 5 a household name—leaving us with provocative and perhaps unanswerable questions about Jackson, child stardom, and fame itself.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I wish I'd given this book 5 stars when I first reviewed it as since then I find I return to this book time and time again - it's so thought-provoking. This is a very well thought out book - musings - on the life and work of Michael Jackson. It is especially fascinating on child stars and what we ask of them.
Worth reading by anyone interested in fame, our celebrity culture, race and gender. I would recommend this as THE book to read for anyone who is interested in, puzzled by or even repulsed by who they think Michael Jackson is. This book goes a long way to explaining what the man may be all about. It is a book for the open-minded, or those who wish to explore this subject in an intelligent way. I'd imagine that some MJ fans won't like this book but while Ms Jefferson's language and conclusions may seem harsh in places, on reflection, she does Jefferson does come down on MJ's side in the end.
I heartily recommend On Michael Jackson.
Worth reading by anyone interested in fame, our celebrity culture, race and gender. I would recommend this as THE book to read for anyone who is interested in, puzzled by or even repulsed by who they think Michael Jackson is. This book goes a long way to explaining what the man may be all about. It is a book for the open-minded, or those who wish to explore this subject in an intelligent way. I'd imagine that some MJ fans won't like this book but while Ms Jefferson's language and conclusions may seem harsh in places, on reflection, she does Jefferson does come down on MJ's side in the end.
I heartily recommend On Michael Jackson.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A refreshing change from the more sensationalist extremes of writing about Michael Jackson and his life.
This is a thoughtful and insightful book. It is worth a read to understand why Michael Jackson's life and talent spoke so strongly to so many people from different cultures and nations across the world, though it focusses more on the culture of American in which he lived his life.
Occasionally the book veers a little too much to the kind of clever, armchair academic view of life, removed from the nuances and complexities of Michael Jackson's all too human life where reality is often messy and has too many loose ends and contradictons to make a such a nice neat story. I felt this the most when the author talks about his parents and his mother, as whatever their faults as parents, had they not worked so hard to help their children develop careers in the music industry they would probably be equally criticised for allowing them to go down the road of poor prospects, gangs or drugs. We have all benefited from Michael Jackson's enormous gifts,so if they can be blamed then we should take some share of blame.
Still, ultimately the writer showed compassion and a willingness to learn from the life of this gifted, complicated and all too human being, a person whose presence in life I will miss greatly, and whose death reminded me to appreciate others while they are here with us, rather than after they have gone.
This is a thoughtful and insightful book. It is worth a read to understand why Michael Jackson's life and talent spoke so strongly to so many people from different cultures and nations across the world, though it focusses more on the culture of American in which he lived his life.
Occasionally the book veers a little too much to the kind of clever, armchair academic view of life, removed from the nuances and complexities of Michael Jackson's all too human life where reality is often messy and has too many loose ends and contradictons to make a such a nice neat story. I felt this the most when the author talks about his parents and his mother, as whatever their faults as parents, had they not worked so hard to help their children develop careers in the music industry they would probably be equally criticised for allowing them to go down the road of poor prospects, gangs or drugs. We have all benefited from Michael Jackson's enormous gifts,so if they can be blamed then we should take some share of blame.
Still, ultimately the writer showed compassion and a willingness to learn from the life of this gifted, complicated and all too human being, a person whose presence in life I will miss greatly, and whose death reminded me to appreciate others while they are here with us, rather than after they have gone.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Despite the huge numbers of articles, texts and stories (or should I say fairy tales) written about Michael Jackson, it is very very difficult to find anything that is credible, well thought through and non-sensational. Well, this is one of such texts, and it is sorely needed.
Ms Jefferson dares to take on a topic and a viewpoint which not many of her peers would or do, and for that I say kudos to her. The text makes for fascinating reading, for those who adore the man, those who loathe him, and those who in fact know very little of this person whose life has been scrutinized so closely.
However, the text is not perfect. What bothered me was that, while Ms Jefferson clearly did her academic homework thoroughly, some of the arguments and points she puts forward are based on inaccuracies. These are small things, such as song lyrics or music video details, but there are so many of them (the majority of examples contain a flaw of some kind) that it eats away at the credibility of the text.
Revised once, this would be a brilliant text. As is, it feels as though Ms Jefferson was in a hurry to finish it and did not take time to check the details.
Ms Jefferson dares to take on a topic and a viewpoint which not many of her peers would or do, and for that I say kudos to her. The text makes for fascinating reading, for those who adore the man, those who loathe him, and those who in fact know very little of this person whose life has been scrutinized so closely.
However, the text is not perfect. What bothered me was that, while Ms Jefferson clearly did her academic homework thoroughly, some of the arguments and points she puts forward are based on inaccuracies. These are small things, such as song lyrics or music video details, but there are so many of them (the majority of examples contain a flaw of some kind) that it eats away at the credibility of the text.
Revised once, this would be a brilliant text. As is, it feels as though Ms Jefferson was in a hurry to finish it and did not take time to check the details.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Dispersive but excellent book
It is written in a very good way, it is simple, curious and sadly true.
Only, sometimes it is just a bit dispersive, with sentences and discussions less inerent to the... Read more
Only, sometimes it is just a bit dispersive, with sentences and discussions less inerent to the... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Julia
On Michael Jackson
Book bought for wife, she stated that this was the worse purchase she ever made,
otherwise delivery and service was excellent as always
otherwise delivery and service was excellent as always
Published on 5 Sep 2009 by Francis Beckles
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