2.0 out of 5 stars Well intentioned but poorly executed! Reinforces stereotype that MJ fans are poor researchers! April 10, 2012
By sanemjfan
I had high hopes for Dr. Moriarty's book "Defending A King", based on reviews from different MJ fan sites and blogs, an endorsement from Tom Mesereau, and hearing her interview on Blog Talk Radio to promote the book. However, after finally completing this massive 500 page book, I am left with a feeling of immense incompleteness, as there is much to be desired from this well-intentioned but poorly research book. Let me explain:
The book started out great, with Dr. Moriarty speaking about her conversations with MJ's bodyguards from Vegas. There is a lot of great information that they gave, and it's a shame that they had a falling out with Dr. Moriarty and did not complete the book with her, as was the original intention. The knowledge that she received from MJ's attorney Tom Mesereau was valuable as well, as Dr. Moriarty gives fans an inside look at what is was like for MJ to experience that tortuous trial.
Unfortunately, the book falls apart quickly because Dr. Moriarty obviously isn't very knowledgeable about MJ, and she is a very poor researcher. Here are a few examples:
On page 226, she inadvertently regurgitates a March 2008 tabloid story written by Stacy Brown, who co-authored the 2004 piece of trash book "Man Behind The Mask" with MJ's former manager Bob Jones. The article, titled "Jacko Clan In A Deep Funk", was originally printed in the New York Post, and it purports to be an honest portrayal of the whereabouts and happenings of the Jackson family in 2008. It was reprinted in the "Michael Jackson Tribute - Exclusive Collector's Edition" book, and this is where Dr. Moriarty copied it almost word for word! The article states that Marlon Jackson was stocking shelves at a supermarket in San Diego, Tito was having to settle for small gigs that paid him several hundred dollars a show, and Randy was doing odd jobs like changing car tires to support himself! For Dr. Moriarty to reprint this garbage is utterly UNCONSCIONABLE! Dr. Moriarty should have tried to verify this information directly from the family so that they could have a chance confirm or deny the story (which they definitely would have denied!), and if she could not do so, then she should not have included this information! Period! If she was even remotely knowledgeable about MJ and the Jackson family, she would have INSTANTLY had recognized this as tabloid garbage! But because it was reprinted in an MJ book, she believed it hook, line, and sinker!
In her chapter "Michael Jackson's TSUNAMI: The Trial", which is a rather incomplete summary of the 2005 trial, Dr. Moriarty doesn't mention AT ALL the testimonies of Blanca and Jason Francia! They were the prosecution's witnesses who testified as "Prior Bad Acts" witnesses. Blanca was a former Neverland employee who sold a story saying that she saw MJ showering with young boys to Hard Copy for $20k dollars, and her son Jason was pressured by police to say that he had been improperly touched by MJ while playing tickling games. Blanca threatened to file a lawsuit against MJ in late 1994, and MJ reached a settlement of $2.4 million dollars with her to prevent her from filing the lawsuit and further sullying his image, especially with the HIStory album due to be released soon. Jason's testimony was so terrible that some of the jurors actually laughed at him during a court break! Blanca's testimony was obviously unconvincing, as the jury acquitted MJ of all charges, but NONE of their testimony was talked about in this chapter! Dr. Moriarty also did NOT explain how Blanca was able to legally extort the $2.4 million from MJ! (As I just did.) This is a COLOSSAL omission of important evidence that CANNOT be overlooked! Dr. Moriarty also left out a lot of the important aspects of the testimony of the Arvizo family, such as Gavin's lie that MJ told him that he should masturbate or else he'd have to rape a woman (Gavin initially told police that his Grandmother said that). There are so many other lies that she left out, and it makes you wonder did she even bother to read all of their testimony?
I also would have liked to have seen her show how Tom Sneddon completely rearranged the charges and alleged dates of the molestatioins in between the filing of the Initial Complaint in December 2003, and the Grand Jury Indictment in April 2004. If only she had been as detailed about the 2005 trial as she was about the Conrad Murray trial later on in the book!
There were numerous small errors that, in their totality, add up validate how sloppily this book is researched. For example, on numerous occasions throughout the book, Dr. Moriarty refers to MJ's 1993 settlement as "approximately $20 million dollars", when in fact it was $15,331,250 dollars! The settlement documents leaked in 2004, and if Dr. Moriarty had properly researched the settlement, instead of relying solely on inaccurate media reports, she would have known that!
On page 86, Dr. Moriarty incorrectly asserts that actor Marlon Brando had a cameo appearance in "Smooth Criminal", when in fact he appeared in "You Rock My World"! If you think that's not a big deal, then I guess it also would have been OK if she had said that Ola Ray starred in "In The Closet", and Naomi Campbell starred in "Thriller"!!
On a several occasions, Dr. Moriarty cites very questionable sources for her facts. For example, she cites Wikipedia, Topix, Radar Online, and TMZ! Once again, anyone even remotely familiar with research skills should know that you should NEVER cite Wikipedia, TMZ, or any other such tabloid sources! How can anyone take you seriously!
And she also cites several MJ fansites and blogs, such as michaeljacksonhoaxforum.com (page 228), mjj2005.com (page 267), and mjfanclub.net (numerous pages). It's very unprofessional for an author to cite fan sites and blogs of the celebrity that they are researching, even if the information is true. Instead of citing the actual site or blog, she should have cited the SOURCE DOCUMENTS that she was researching, such as the AEG contract and court transcripts!
Now, let me get into all of the information that is MISSING from this book! When you're truly knowledgeable about a subject, you can evaluate the quality of a book by looking for pertinent information that should be included but isn't!
Dr. Moriarty did NOT give a complete timeline and summary of the 1993 scandal, which you would think that "the definitive" book on MJ would include! She didn't mention how Jordan didn't admit to any wrongdoing by MJ until after he was cajoled by Evan after a dental procedure was performed on him, or that Evan didn't go to the police with his allegations, but instead took Jordan to see a psychiatrist so that the psychiatrist could report Jordan's claims, or how Evan hired then fired Gloria Allred after she refused to sue MJ instead of prosecuting him first, or how he sued Sony in 1996 for the right to record a "rebuttal album" to MJ's HIStory called "EVANstory", or how Evan was the ghostwriter for the book "All That Glitters", which was released by his brother Ray in September 2004!
Dr. Moriarty briefly mentioned the FBI's files on MJ, which were released in December 2009, but she did NOT mention how Jordan Chandler met with Ron Zonen on September 2004 and threatened legal action against Zonen if he was subpoenaed to testify against MJ, and how Jordan told him that he had "done his part"! That is one of the most significant pieces of exculpatory evidence that fans have against the Chandlers, yet it's completely missing from the book!
On page 487, Dr. Moriarty criticizes J. Randy Taraborrelli's "hastily written" 2009 rerelease of his book "The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story", yet she quoted from this book MULTIPLE times throughout her book! Why is that? Why would she cite a source multiple times and then criticize that same source?
There were other mistakes that I found, but this review is long enough as it is, and you get the point. I give Dr. Moriarty an 5 stars for effort, but a 2 stars for execution! These errors just cannot be swept under the rug, no matter how well intentioned the book is! It would be like me saying that VH1's 2004 movie "Man in the Mirror" is a good movie because VH1's heart was in the right place! The notion that this book should be assigned to college students who wish to learn about MJ is a joke, because it is poorly researched, devolves into a love letter at times, includes too much "copying and pasting" from MJ blogs and other books, leaves much to be desired.
Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of positive things to say about this book, and overall I would recommend it to new fans, but for knowledgeable fans such as myself, the book is severely flawed. I know that it may seem that I came down very hard on this book, but it's out of my dedication to MJ that the truth be told about him in an ACCURATE and PROFESSIONAL manner
http://www.amazon.com/Defending-Kin...d=1350776284&sr=8-1&keywords=defending+a+king
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