MERCY, MERCY ME: THE ART, LOVES & DEMONS OF MARVIN GAYE Michael Eric Dyson is a fresh reassessment of the remarkable life, art, struggles, and death of an American icon.
Twenty years after his murder at the hands of his own father, Marvin Gaye continues to define the hopes and shattered dreams of the Motown generation. A performer whose career spanned the history of rhythm and blues, from doo-wop to the sultriest of soul music, Gaye's artistry magnified the contradictions that defined America's coming of age in the tumultuous 1970s. Michael Eric Dyson illuminates both Marvin Gaye's stellar achievements and stunning personal decline--and offers an unparalleled assessment of the cultural and political legacy of R&B on American culture.
Through interviews with those close to Gaye--from his musical beginnings in a black church in Washington, D.C., to his days as a "Ladies' Man" in Motown's stable of young singers, from the artistic heights of the landmark album What's Going On? to his struggles with addiction and domestic violence--this book draws an indelible portrait of the tensions that shaped contemporary urban America.
Published to coincide with the twentieth anniversary of Gaye's death in 1984, Mercy, Mercy Me is at once a celebration of an American icon whose work continues to inspire, and a revelatory and incisive look at how a lost generation's moods, music, and moral vision continue to resonate today.
Micheal Eric Dyson is the author of "Open Mike", "Holler If You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur", "Why I Love Black Women", "I May Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr.", "Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line", "Between God and Gangsta Rap", "Making Malcolm: The Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X", and "Reflecting Black". Now the Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania, he lives in Philadelphia.
February
2005
