Once the child star of his family's phenomenally successful band, the performer Michael Jackson matured into a pop superstar who created such classic albums as OFF THE WALL and THRILLER before undergoing some bizarre physical and perhaps mental transformations in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s. Charges of child molestation and an ever-changing facial appearance, as well as an apparent disconnect from societal norms, contributed to his becoming one of the most controversial figures in the entertainment world. The Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times writer Margo Jefferson here analyzes Jackson's ongoing personal peculiarities, and the wide range of public reactions he provokes--from revulsion to the stubborn loyalty of his diehard fans--as well as society's role in creating the public persona of this undeniably talented yet incontrovertibly strange artist.