Dear Jacksonian friends,
You know me now, for many years, for my academic work, my doctoral thesis at the Sorbonne, but also various books, articles and conferences on Michael Jackson.
Even if I am not very present on the networks for some time, for personal reasons that are being stabilized and resolved, I continue to work to analyze and make known Michael's music, his art, his personality, his values.
Thanks to many of you, I was able, 6 years ago now, to translate my 2nd book on Michael's voice, prefaced by the great and late Bruce Swedien " Michael Jackson, Il était une Voix / Michael Jackson, Voice upon a Time ".
Today, it is my last book that I feel it is important to translate. Why?
1) Because I receive many requests from English-speaking readers who have read my first two books translated into English (remember the one dedicated to the study of "Dangerous" in 2015) and wish to have access to this one
2) Because this book is very precious to me since it is the adaptation of my long and colossal academic work on Michael, aiming at putting in their true context all these questions of racial belonging, of skin color which gave rise to so many false rumors and false interpretations.
This work, published since 2019 in French by Delatour, is entitled "Michael Jackson, black or white? An extraordinary artist facing a racialized music industry". It has been prefaced by Brad Buxer, Michael's composer and keyboardist, and by Tristan Cabello, an American academic. It is enhanced by a cover photo donated by the iconic Greg Gorman, its famous author. It is longer and larger than its predecessors, but its content and the political, historical, financial and artistic issues it describes could not take up less space.
In order for this new translation to be as accurate and reliable as the previous one, it must be entrusted to a person who can be trusted, both for his or her skills in translating for native Americans, and for his or her ability to faithfully transcribe the book's analytical elements. I now have the necessary contacts to have a professional job done, as before, at a preferential rate (3 times less than the market price). But the cost remains important: 4000 €.
I might as well tell you that alone, I won't be able to do it. I really need your help for this new project.
No other referenced, sourced work evokes this racial issue through the sieve of which Michael has been so often abused and misunderstood. And I think I can humbly, but sincerely and realistically, say that no other author or even academic specialist has spent 7 years dealing with this subject as I have for the Sorbonne.
I know how difficult the times we live in are. A time when, after so many health anxieties, financial and professional uncertainties, downgrades and abandonments, many projects have difficulty getting back on track, regaining momentum. But if, at my level, I have to choose one, it is this project, a vector of a positive and constructive diffusion around Michael. Every week, new people ask me when this book will be available in English. So now it's time to put this project into action.
Next year, we will celebrate the 15th anniversary of Michael's death. And I'd like to be able to offer his English-speaking and international audience (through English-language readers around the world) an efficient gift, something to think about, that is worthy of the occasion.
I really need you and your financial support to bring this titanic work to life on an international scale and I am therefore appealing to your generosity and support. Donations are possible from 5 euros.
You are more than 2200 to follow me on my main Facebook page. Not everyone will be able to give, but the small streams, as you know....
So, I thank you in advance...
Sincerely and with love L.O.V.E.
Isabelle