Customer Reviews

On Michael Jackson

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

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.

Research-wise, she does lose sight of the facts surrounding MJ at times and chooses supposition over evidence on occasion. For example, she does not seem to give much credence to his vitilgo yet he first consulted a doctor about it in 1981 or thereabouts, long before the public had any idea of it. A picture exists of him from the early eighties which shows what he looked like with out make up to cover the patches.
She also makes out that Michael dismissed Debbie Rowe when hed had enough of her - but I believe this was not the case. She twists the facts somewhat.
But on the whole this book is worth reading by anyone interested in fame, our celebrity culture, race, gender.

Some MJ fans won't like this book and I'd say it is aimed at the general reader, the curious or the fan who is open minded. Though her language may seem harsh, on reflection, Margo Jefferson does come down on MJ's side in the end.

In the eloquent prose of a Pulitzer prize-winning critic for the New York Times, Margo Jefferson does one thing rather well. She puts Michael Jackson into cultural context. The most valuable contribution of this slim volume is to demonstrate that although her subject may appear to be the strangest human on the planet, he also exemplifies major themes in American popular culture.

Jefferson's exploration of this terrain succeeds not in normalising Jackson, but rather in linking him to a broader stream of strangeness - the freak show element present in American showbiz at least since the days of P. T. Barnum, whose methods Michael himself once studied avidly. The author's other principal strength is her rich appreciation of Michael's art: her rapturous riffs on his music and its meaning smack more of the fan than the detached critic.

Her title, On Michael Jackson, suggests a high-brow essay. Stylistically, she does not disappoint, delivering many fresh insights in diamond-sharp language. Scholastically, though, she fails. The book is "on" Michael Jackson but she never tells us what she is "on" about. What is the objective? Much of the time she is actually talking not about Michael Jackson at all but rather - in "cultural studies" vein - about public perception of the superstar. This enables her, like all that mealy-mouthed academic tribe, to be vague and evasive on the big issues, in this case whether Michael has or has not been sexually involved with young boys. Her unspoken agenda seems to be Michael's rehabilitation, judging by her emphasis on what his art has meant for her and her generation. I have no quarrel with that mission. It's fine by me.

What is a good deal less fine is her sly disinclination to confront inconvenient facts. She has a chapter on Michael's trial but totally ignores the evidence of sexual conduct given by his accuser. Likewise she refers obliquely to the earlier crisis of 1993-4 but never touches on what the boy in that case told the authorities. She prefers instead to ramble on about the competing lawyers and their tactics. What a sense of priorities!

It is not just sly, it is slipshod, relying on research she did a decade or more ago, if at all. For instance, she cites J. Randy Taraborrelli as an important biographical source. Fair enough, but had she done her homework she would have known about, read, and cited the 2004 edition of his work, not, as she does, the 1991 one, which obviously could not have covered Jackson's first brush with the law. Likewise, despite pretending to some knowledge of "child sex abuse", it is obvious from the uncritical way she buys into the abuse industry's language, and from the paucity of her (dated) references, that her understanding is as near to zero as makes no difference. It is embarrassingly clear she has not the foggiest notion of why boys are so important to Michael Jackson or indeed to other men who wreck their lives in pursuit of taboo relationships.

I must take issue with those reviewers who make a point of Margo Jefferson's factual errors, as if her book was meant to be definitively biographic. The title--"On Michael Jackson"--reveals her approach from the git. Hers is an extended--and exquisitely attuned--essay; a volume of musings on a deeply paradoxical subject that dips profoundly into cultural issues, and continually delivers treasure. The misguided will demand a summation, a tying-up; but this is a book of and about perception. Don't miss it if you enjoy the play of an extraordinary mind on an extraordinary subject.

This is a nicely written, succinct review of the Michael Jackson story from the time he was pushed on stage by his father until he was found not guilty of child molestation. Why should anyone really care about him? Well, if you are at all interested in what can happen when society puts a young boy on a pedestal, sexualizes him at an early age, allows him to earn millions of dollars, and then watches voraciously as he descends into madness, this is a book that will not only hold your attention but will give you more questions than answers when you finish it. Is this black/white, man/woman an innocent who loves children or is he a clever child molester? Is he a victim or a perpetrator? You will have to make up your own mind. There are no easy answers in this book.

the author is extremely poignant and fascinating in her analagous prose concerning the star; however one wonders why so many of the dates listed for songs, videos, loss of afros etc. are wrong.
it is in stark contrast to her incredibly succinct descriptions of M.J.'s songs, taste in clothing, etc.
i've never read such articulate descriptions of certain aspects of the man's music, past and present. she seems to have a very intimate knowledge of the stages of his life and what they represent visually and culturally, but given that level of erudition, why would she totally miss the mark with the dates and years when she gets the meat of the matter at hand so successfully?
she goes on in great detail about when he loses the globular afro but claims he got rid of it in '77 when he clearly didn't lose it until late '79. (rock with you video)he still had it for months after the OFF THE WALL album was released in '79
jermaine's "word to the badd" is given a date of 1980, but it didn't come out until '90 or so.
she gives too much short shrift to some of the siblings.rebbie for example has done a little more than release some albums in japan.she did have a top 40 hitwith "centipede" in the states.
jermaine had a considerably more successful solo career than she let's on.
she describes the glitter outfit he wears in the "rock with you" video from '80, but cites the song as "show you the way to go", which is a jackson group effort from the '76 album "the jacksons"
it just makes me wonder.....how could she get THAT wrong?
don't try to say bad editing, cuz this is obviously her mistake.
other than that a truly fascinating read with some compelling historic references dating back to the early ninteenth century.
highly, highly recommended.

I borrowed this book from the library. I'm 3/4 of the way through, and thank God I didn't pay for it.

I have to be honest, I don't think I've ever read an MJ bio with so many inaccuracies and armchair psychology wrapped around pseudo-intellectual speak. The inaccuracies are minor but abundant; some examples are wrong song lyrics, messing up Katherine Jackson's maiden name, and attributing the wrong songs to music videos. The author uses the messes up the name for one of the TV shows she mentions. Even someone who knows about the Jacksons in passing can point them out without have to use Google. The sad part is that this book could have had some potential in terms of studying MJ's psyche, and had some good points about child stars, how they are sexualized, used up and spit out by the industry. But all of this gets loss in the problems I mentioned earlier, and writing that doesn't flow or holds my interest as a reader. The only thing keeps me from putting the book down in MJ himself.

Honestly, I don't see how this book made it to print without a fact checker. And this is from a Pulitzer Prize-winning author? This book was published three years ago, how did this make it into print?

If any publishers are reading this, I'm out of work right now, and if you're hiring fact checkers, I'll be happy to send my resume.

This book is based on sensationalistic tabloid lies. Michael Jackson was INNOCENT of all charges from all allegations made against him. This book is written as if done by a schizophrenic who has no organization and constantly wandering thoughts and who goes off topic regularly. Her writing style is that of a child with Learning Disabilities and is not professional! I read several pages of several parts of the book, so I KNOW that it is full of the media sensationalistic LIES and HER OPINIONS. She has no support for what she said and was never a witness to anything she said. She based her writing on tabloids = JUNK, LIES. Read Geraldine Hughes' Redemtion for the TRUTH. Geraldine Hughes actually WAS a witness to the Chandler's allegations, as she was their lawyer's legal secretary the entire time from the initial plot to the final, in which Michael was treated in ways that took away his CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS. "Redemption" is really a TRUE book and IS FACT. Also, Aphrodite Jones' book, "Michael Jackson Conspiracy" is excellent and FACTUAL. Aphrodite was present for the ENTIRE trial, wrote what actually happened = FACTS, and told the TRUTH. If reading is not desired, "The Untold Story of Neverland" is FACTUAL, and was the DVD made by Nimmer who followed Bashir and showed what was really said and done and put everything in the context in which it occurred. Bashir edited out words and events that would have shown the facts, he placed his own OPINIONS in the documentary he did many times, and he intentionally showed events out of context = LIES. The TRUTH lies in the Nimmer DVD, Aprodite Jones' book, and Hughes' book. Also, get a copy of the outtakes of Bashir's documentary and find out EVERYTHING that was said and done and IN CONTEXT = FACT. I would give "On Michael Jackson" a zero if that was an option.

This Pulitzer prizing-winning author has an elegant way with words and a turn of a phrase. She strives to place Michael in the center of what was culturally happening at the time of his ascendancy and subsequent decline (at least in the press; his fans remained loyal). However if someone is looking for a book of Michael this is not the one. This book is "about" Michael or rather on how Michael affected, was perhaps affected by, and perceived by the culture in which we live from the standpoint of how our society has always treated the freak, the oddity, the thing that is different from the "norm". This very slim book is a good and quick read. One complaint, the author got a couple of her facts wrong and for me that takes a little away from the book. Especially, when they were facts that are well-known and easily checked.

This book was just awful. It included no new information (and in fact quite a bit of inaccurate information) and was very poorly written. It was difficult to read and not at all worth the money I spent on it.

I got it from the library as well. Thankfully I didn't have to pay for this piece of judgemental garbage.