Could not really get into this. It's a quick read, but felt long due to the constant repetitions. Brown was a private man & I wasn't expecting National Enquirer gossip-type tidbits, but most of the book was made up of interviews with people that weren't even talking about James Brown. The entire book felt really unstructured & just wasn't particularly interesting. Every time I'd find a part that appeared to be going somewhere (the part on Michael Jackson viewing Brown's body towards the end was interesting), it'd suddenly get dull again. Felt like enough real information to do a lengthy magazine article, not an entire book. Don't get the hype.

Outstanding writing. All of my friends who love music, this is a must read. As much a commentary on race in America and the American South, McBride provides an eloquent, provocative, honest commentary. Wow, just wow.

This is another book I won from FirstReads, I learned so much about James Brown and that was incredibly interesting. However, this book is boarder than that: it touches on institutionalize racism in and out of the music industry, the co-opting of African American culture, the disposal of very talented people and the loss of musical history, and the complicated nature of race relations in the South.

Impressionistic biography of James Brown, concentrating on the Augusta/Savannah River world that produced him (and which ejected his extended family to build the Savannah River Power Plant), the chitlin' circuit of the 1950s, sharecropping and the Civil Rights movement, the intertwined population of church and popular musicians and the tangled estate which, a decade after Brown's 2006 death, has enriched no one but lawyers and has prevented Brown's body (currently in one daughter's front lawn) from being buried. McBride's previous work on race, family and the complexities of African-American community are an unorthodox but ultimately useful background for viewing the Hardest Working Man in Show Business.

Fascinating and very well written.

I really enjoyed this book. When talking about artists whose careers spanned decades and who had as much influence on music and culture as James Brown did, you could probably spend years writing out the minutiae of his life. But to hear first hand accounts of who the artist was, without glossing over the ugly or dark parts, that feels more human.

I think McBride did a wonderful job at telling the story of what made James Brown who he was. He didn’t ignore the context of the America that James was brought up in, the racism that was prevalent in the music industry, or the difficult person that resulted from those conditions. This approach to writing felt really honest, and is a testament to McBride’s ability to weave many narratives together to tell a fulsome story. I really appreciated the chance to hear personal accounts from those who were close to James at different points in his lifetime, which really hammered home the fact that personalities and identities are complex and ever changing, and that the contexts in which we show up in can bring out the many different versions of ourselves that exist within us.

Now it’s time to go spin my Live at the Apollo vinyl with a deeper appreciation and curiousity for the Godfather of Soul.

excellent read into the life and times of James Brown, and the forces that shaped and drive him. Best book about him I've read.

I didn't think I needed to read another James Brown book. I did. R. J. Smith's recent THE ONE tells the whole story, and well. But maybe it doesn't tell the whole truth. McBride aims for that, and by seeking out the people who knew Brown best and longest, he might have hit it. It isn't pretty, but it's real, and it allows the man a special dignity, which McBride protects with welling fierceness.