Abstract: Many fans of Michael Jackson collect books about the pop icon, wanting to read as much as they can about his life and career. Referencing titles from her own collection, MJ Studies Today columnist Kerry Hennigan finds that biographies presenting a factual portrait of the King of Pop are a rarity. Similarly, critical analysis of his work is often distorted by ill-informed impressions of Jackson based on the caricature the tabloid media has created of him, whereas paying serious attention to Jackson’s work can reveal so much about the man who created it.
Column by Kerry Hennigan, editor of the free monthly newsletter A Candle for Michael, administrator of the fan group “Michael Jackson’s Short Film Ghosts” on Facebook, and an MJ blogger on WordPress. Kerry holds Certificates in the Archaeology of the Ancient World and the Archaeology of Ancient Britain from Cambridge University’s Institute of Continuing Education and is passionate about Viking longships.
REFERENCE AS:
Hennigan, Kerry. “MJ Studies Today CXIV: Reading Michael Jackson: selections from my bookshelf, Part 1: Biographies, Memoirs and More.” (14-06-2025). The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies Vol 11, No. 4 (2025). https://michaeljacksonstudies.org/mj-studies-today-cxiv/
The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies asks that you acknowledge The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies as the source of our content; if you use material from The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies online, we request that you link directly to the stable URL provided. If you use our content offline, we ask that you credit the source as follows: “Courtesy of The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies.”
Reading Michael Jackson: selections from my bookshelf, Part 1: Biographies, Memoirs and More.
By Kerry Hennigan
Photo montage © Kerry Hennigan
Like many Michael Jackson fans I went through a phase of buying just about any book that came out on the global icon in the years following his death. Others like me, who had not been avid fans and followers during his lifetime, similarly had a lot to catch up on, and immersing oneself in books about Michael was part of the grieving process. Jackson’s own two titles, Moonwalk (1988) and Dancing the Dream (1992) only took us up to the early 1990s, beyond which so much happened to him that would influence his subsequent work.
The ”autobiographical” tracks like “Stranger in Moscow” and “Childhood” on Disc 2 of his double album HIStory: Past, Present & Future, Book 1 bear witness to some of the highs and lows he endured in the years between Dangerous and HIStory. In the second half of the 90s he gave us Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix, which included “Morphine” and “Is It Scary,” the former seemingly confessional (i.e. dependence on pain medication), while the latter revealed his acute awareness of what was said of him by his critics.
Am I amusing you, or just confusing you?
Am I the beast you visualized? [1]
Susan Woodward, author of the book Otherness and Power: Michael Jackson and his media critics, having immersed herself in what others had written about Jackson, had found the experience “dismaying and frustrating, and sometimes sickening, to see how uninterested the authors were in facts, or reasonable interpretation of facts, or in understanding that Michael Jackson was actually a human being.”[2] As Jackson himself had realised, to these writers, he was indeed “the beast” they visualised.
In terms of people who knew him better, three of Michael’s siblings have not only spoken of, but written about their late brother in their own personal memoirs published since June 2009. These are Janet Jackson’s True You: A Journey to Finding and Loving Yourself (2011) in which she recalls how Michael teased her about her weight; and La Toya’s Starting Over (2011) which features Michael with La Toya on the cover of the original hardback release to emphasise her status as his “closest sister.”[3]
Jermaine Jackson’s book, You Are Not Alone: Michael, Through a Brother’s Eyes (2011) presents aspects of Michael’s life from the perspective of an ambitious older brother who also had a solo career, but with more modest success. Jermaine provides what is predominantly a sensitive and compassionate portrait of his brother’s less happy times. Of particular interest is his behind the scenes account of the anguish Michael and the whole Jackson family suffered during the 2005 criminal trial.[4] The 2012 UK paperback edition of the book, boasting a stunning Annie Lebovitz photo of Michael on the cover, includes an additional chapter which is illuminating in the light of Michael’s demise at the hands of his doctor.
For Jackson’s short-lived marriage to Lisa Marie Presley, the respective chapter in her posthumously published memoirs, From Here to the Great Unknown (2024), completed by her daughter Riley Keough, is an excellent source of information despite the unhappy outcome. We’ve heard Lisa Marie talk about Michael with Oprah Winfrey and others, but only when narrating her memoirs did she reveal details never mentioned on camera. While Jackson features in only one chapter of her book, it is an important part of the overall tragedy of Lisa Marie’s too short life, and gives a perspective on Michael that few other individuals could provide.[5]
It can be argued that Joseph Vogel’s Man In The Music, the creative life and work of Michael Jackson – an in-depth look at the artist through the lens of his creative output – is superior to any biography, in particular the revised and updated paperback edition released 2019. Vogel’s works on Jackson are essential reading not only for fans but for any music critic genuinely interested in Jackson’s work.[6] The same can be said of Joe’s updated monograph Earth Song: Michael Jackson and the Art of Compassion [7][8] and his collection of other MJ-related essays published under the title Michael Jackson and the Reinvention of Pop.
From the perspective of a fan, to truly know Michael Jackson, I believe one should study his art, his motivations, his intentions. His premature demise – 16 years ago this month – robbed the world of what might have been the best years of his artistic genius. Whether in the form of music, film, perhaps even another autobiography, Michael Jackson would have never stopped creating.
“It’s like stepping into a river and joining the flow. Every moment in the river has its song. So, I stay in the moment and listen.” – Michael Jackson [9]
Kerry Hennigan
14 June 2025
Sources:
[1] “Is It Scary.” Excerpt from the lyrics of the song composed by Michael Jackson, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Released 1997 on Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix album.
[2] Woodward, Susan. “An Interview with Susan Woodward.” Interview, The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies 2, no. 3 (2016). Published electronically 21/05/16. http://michaeljacksonstudies.org/an-interview-with-susan-woodward/
[3] Simon & Schuster. La Toya Jackson and Jeffre Phillips, “Starting Over.” Pocket Paperback edition 2012. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Starting-Over/La-Toya-Jackson/9781451620597
[4] Hennigan, Kerry. “Looking Back: Thoughts on both editions of ‘You Are Not Alone: Michael through a Brother’s Eyes’ by Jermaine Jackson,” Published electronically 2021. https://kerryhennigan.wordpress.com/2021/04/22/looking-back-thoughts-on-both-editions-of-you-are-not-alone-michael-through-a-brothers-eyes-by-jermaine-jackson/
[5] Hennigan, Kerry. “Book Review: ‘From Here to the Great Unknown’ by Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough,” Published electronically 2024. https://kerryhennigan.wordpress.com/2024/11/26/book-review-from-here-to-the-great-unknown-by-lisa-marie-presley-and-riley-keough/
[6] Hennigan, Kerry. “MJ Studies Today XLV. ‘Every day create your history’: Reading the art of Michael Jackson to discover the real Man in the Music.” (17-10-2019). The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies 6, no. 2 (2019). https://michaeljacksonstudies.org/mj-studies-today-xlvi/
[7] Amisu, Elizabeth. “Academic Book Review of ‘Earth Song: Michael Jackson and the Art of Compassion’ by Joseph Vogel.” (7 October 2017). The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies 4, no. 2 (2017) https://michaeljacksonstudies.org/academic-book-review-of-earth-song-michael-jackson-and-the-art-of-compassion-by-joseph-vogel/
[8] Hennigan, Kerry. Revisiting Earthsong and reviewing Joseph Vogel’s revised monograph Earth Song: Michael Jackson and the Art of Compassion. Published electronically February 2017 https://kerryhennigan.wordpress.com/2017/09/27/revisiting-earth-song-and-reviewing-joseph-vogels-revised-monograph-earth-song-michael-jackson-and-the-art-of-compassion-2017/
[9] Jackson, Michael. Quote published on the artist’s official website. https://www.michaeljackson.com/news/what-was-michael-jacksons-way-of-making-music/
Illustration: “reading…” compiled by Kerry Hennigan using Photoscape X Pro software. No infringement of original photographic copyright is intended in this not for profit, educational exercise.
[…] Access the article here: https://michaeljacksonstudies.org/mj-studies-today-cxiv/ […]