It remains to be seen whether Michael Jackson will be exonerated or undone by further revelations in the current child abuse allegations, but however the drama plays out he remains a source of endless fascination to many people. This biography seeks to explain how Michael Jackson came to be the person he is. It examines to what extent Jackson is a victim of a “dysfunctional” family, of an entertainment industry that turns child stars into emotionally crippled adults and of a world press that delighted in building, then destroying, global icons.