MICHAEL ERIC DYSON

The best-selling Motown artist of all time, Marvin Gaye defined the hopes and shattered dreams of an entire generation. Twenty years after his tragic death-he was shot by his father-his relevance persists because of the indelible mark his outsized talent left on American culture. A transcendent performer whose career spanned the history of rhythm and blues, from doo-wop to the sultriest of soul music, Gaye's artistic scope and emotional range set the soundtrack for America's tumultuous coming of age in the 1970s. Michael Eric Dyson's searching narrative illuminates Marvin Gaye's stellar ascendance-from a black church in Washington, D. C. , to the artistic peak of What's Going On?-and charts his sobering personal decline. Dyson draws from interviews with those closest to Gaye to paint an intimate portrait of the tensions and themes that shaped contemporary urban America: racism, drug abuse, economic adversity, and the long legacy of hardship. Gaye's stormy relationships with women, including duet partner Tammi Terrell and wives Anna Gordy and Janis Hunter, are examined in light of the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s.Dyson also considers family violence in the larger context of the African-American life and how that heartbreaking legacy resulted in Gaye's murder. Mercy, Mercy, Me is an unforgettable portrait of a beloved black genius whose art is reflected in the dynamism of contemporary urban America

The best-selling Motown artist of all time, Marvin Gaye defined the hopes and shattered dreams of an entire generation. Twenty years after his tragic death-he was shot by his father-his relevance persists because of the indelible mark his outsized talent left on American culture. A transcendent performer whose career spanned the history of rhythm and blues, from doo-wop to the sultriest of soul music, Gaye's artistic scope and emotional range set the soundtrack for America's tumultuous coming of age in the 1970s. Michael Eric Dyson's searching narrative illuminates Marvin Gaye's stellar ascendance-from a black church in Washington, D.C., to the artistic peak of What's Going On?-and charts his sobering personal decline. Dyson draws from interviews with those closest to Gaye to paint an intimate portrait of the tensions and themes that shaped contemporary urban America: racism, drug abuse, economic adversity, and the long legacy of hardship. Gaye's stormy relationships with women, including duet partner Tammi Terrell and wives Anna Gordy and Janis Hunter, are examined in light of the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. Dyson also considers family violence in the larger context of the African-American life and how that heartbreaking legacy resulted in Gaye's murder. Mercy, Mercy, Me is an unforgettable portrait of a beloved black genius whose art is reflected in the dynamism of contemporary urban America.

De los siete pecados capitales, la soberbia, entendida como un orgullo excesivo, es el único que podría tener algo de virtud. Sin duda es positivo enorgullecerse de la propia nación, de la propia comunidad o de uno mismo. Pero cuando se va demasiado lejos, como demuestra Michael Eric Dyson en este libro, esas virtudes pasan a ser pecados capitales. Dyson, a quien la revista Ebony ha considerado uno de los cien afroamericanos mas influyentes, contempla las multiples dimensiones de la soberbia y el orgullo. Abarcando referencias que van desde san Agustin y Tomas de Aquino hasta Martin Luther King, Dyson ofrece una mirada amplia en torno a este vicio virtuoso, sondea las raices filosoficas y teologicas de la soberbia, examina sus transformaciones en el seno de la cultura occidental, e incluso debate el modo en que el orgullo negro impide la degradacion y previene la exclusion por parte de los blancos, que puede ser invisible o implicita, pero no por ello menos poderosa. Dyson propone una conmovedora vision de los maestros y los libros que dieron forma a su vocacion y contempla los aspectos mas problematicos del orgullo nacional. Desde el 11-S, señala, los estadounidenses se han visto obligados a cerrar filas, pero esa colectividad excluyente ha ocupado el espacio de una version mas rica y mas profunda del amor a la patria. Este poder sin barreras reafirma la supremacia de Norteamerica por encima de todo lo demas, elevando las creencias nacionales por encima de cualquier moral y atacando a los criticos de la politica exterior de Estados Unidos, tachandolos de antipatriotas e incluso de traidores. La temeridad, la arrogancia o la presuposicion incuestionable de que la propia forma de vida define como han de vivir todos los demas --en resumidas cuentas, la soberbia-- tienen multiples manifestaciones sumamente destructivas. Y Michael Eric Dyson, uno de los intelectuales con mas proyeccion publica de Estados Unidos, las describe con tanto detalle que su retrato de esta emocion tan poliedrica, que lo mismo puede ser virtud indispensable que pecado capital, se convierte automaticamente en un clasico de nuestros dias.