Untouchable - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1611855764 ISBN 13: 9781611855760

Publisher: Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press, 2013

Synopsis

Jackson was the most talented, richest, and most famous pop star on the planet. But the outpouring of emotion that followed his loss was bittersweet. Dogged by scandal for over fifteen years, and undone by his own tendency to trust the wrong people, Jackson had become untouchable in many quarters, a fact that wounded him deeply. Now, drawing on unprecedented access to friends, enemies, employees, and associates of Jackson, Randall Sullivan delivers an intimate, unflinching, and deeply human portrait of a man who was never quite understood by the media, his fans, or even those closest to him. Untouchable promises to be a profound investigation into the enigma that was Michael Jackson.

About this title

Review

Amazon Best Books of the Month, November 2012: Does the world need another book about the late King of Pop? Do you want to read one? Before opening onetime Rolling Stone editor Sullivan’s massive (775+ pages) book, I would surely have screamed NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Everybody knows the story: adorable musical prodigy grows up into weird, plastic surgery–addicted, money-obsessed celebrity who may or may not have been a pedophile but is doubtless sexually stunted. And how could he not have been, given the horrific treatment he received from his father, who apparently couldn’t decide whether to beat him to death or just pimp him out as a performer? Sullivan hits all those notes, of course, and while the recitation of Jackson’s many debts and trials verges on wearying, the sheer accumulation of detail and unusual amount of access to longtime Jackson advisors and relatives also makes you realize, once and for all, the extent of the damage done both to and by the guy the British press dubbed “Wacko Jacko.” From the very first scene--in which Joe and Katherine Jackson trick their way into their son’s home--the Michael Jackson that emerges here is both hero and villain, a loving father (truly!) and a screaming egomaniac, a sometimes brilliant businessman who was also pathetically naïve. Go on: Check out this train wreck of a life. I dare you to look away. --Sara Nelson

About the Author

Randall Sullivan was a contributing editor to Rolling Stone for over twenty years. He is also the author of The Price of Experience, LAbyrinth, and The Miracle Detective, the book that inspired the television show The Miracle Detectives, which he hosted and which premiered on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) in January 2011. He lives in Oregon.

Edition details

• Publisher: Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1611855764
• ISBN 13: 9781611855760
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 800