Jesse: The Life and Pilgrimage of Jesse Jackson

By Marshall Frady

Book Overview

A native South Carolinian, Marshall Frady was a journalist for over twenty-five years, writing principally on political figures and racial and social tensions in the American culture, first as a correspondent for Newsweek, then for Life, Harper's, Esquire, The New York Review of Books, The Sunday Times of London, Atlantic Monthly, and The New Yorker. In the 1980s, Frady was chief writer and host of ABC News Documentary Series "Closeup," for which he won two Emmy's, the Cine Golden Eagle, and the duPont-Columbia Award, and a correspondent for "Nightline." In the 90's, he co-wrote the screenplay for the TNT miniseries "George Wallace," directed by John Frankenheimer, which won three CableACE awards, a Golden Globe for best miniseries, the Humanitas Award for writing, three Emmy awards and the Peabody Award. He also wrote and narrated the PBS "Frontline" Documentary, "The Pilgrimage of Jesse Jackson." He was the author of seven books: Wallace (1968), Across a Darkling Plain: An American's Passage Through the Middle East (1971), Billy Graham: A Parable of American Righteousness (1979), Southerners: A Journalist's Odyssey (1980), which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, Jesse: The Life and Pilgrimage of Jesse Jackson (1996), and Martin Luther King Jr. (2002), a volume in the Penguin Lives series. He died on March 9, 2004.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743291441
• ISBN13: 9780743291446
• Release Date: November 2006
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 592 Pages
• Weight: 1.21 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.3" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Good and balanced view of a controversial individual

Neither a smear sheet or puff piece, this is a very objective and thorough look at the Rev. Jesse Jackson.Here you see both the good and bad. The infamous "King's blood" incident, the womanizing, the crudity and rudeness (that I've had the misfortune to expereince once), and the scandals are all here minus the Angela Parker case in 1971, oddly.However, Frady does not let the reader forget the good that Jesse Jackson has done for society. We also him getting tearful Israeli and Palestinian children to come together in peace. We see him trying to unify poor Whites and Blacks in America (who even THINKS of doing that anymore?), we see him encouraging Black kids to forego delinquency and do better in school (I first saw him on one such occasion in 1978), and we see the successful instances in which he helped in the release of hostages. We also see that contrary to popular (mis)beleif, he has encouraged far more cooperation among the races than this far lesser contemporaries among what remains of "Black leadership."Frady lets the reader know that in spite of Rev. Jesse Jackson's considerable and numerous flaws, the good that he has done cannot be dismissed.In spite of this, there is a minor complaint. Frady gets to be a bit much with the dialect in trying to capture Rev. J/J's speech patters ("Yawl," "Great Gawd a mighty," "Looka heah," etc.).

A vivid portrait of an American original

"Jesse" is a compelling examination of the fascinating life and times of an American original, civil rights leader and two-time presidential contender Jesse Jackson. This detailed, nuanced biography benefits from the author's nearly thirty years covering Jackson as a journalist, as well as the access Frady was granted his subject as a frequent traveling companion and from many interviews with Jackson, his family and colleagues. As a result, Frady has been able to create a intimate account of his subject's life and thought which seemingly allows the reader to get inside Jackson's head and understand his motivations and actions. Striving for a balanced portrayal, Frady does not shy away from Jackson's faults; commendably, he deals with them in a frank, fair manner while avoiding sensationalism. Ultimately, Frady suggests, all of Jackson's activities, from his early work with PUSH and Operation Breadbasket in Chicago, to his presidential campaigns and his incessant world travels, have been motivated by a common spirit of "gospel populism" and a desire to be seen not simply as a black leader but as a moral leader with a vision that transcends racial, cultural and economic boundaries. "Jesse" is not a perfect book; it seems at times a bit lengthy, and often Frady devotes seemingly endless attention to minor or obscure events and breezes over major ones (example: we repeatedly hear references and anecdotes about Jackson's 1989 trip to earthquake-stricken Armenia, but his 1988 speech at the Democratic National Convention - probably his most memorable public moment - is cursorily dispatched in two sentences). "Jesse" is probably not, as one reviewer suggested, the definitive biography of Jesse Jackson, but it is an important key to understanding the man, and in the absence of a definitive portrait, it will no doubt be the best Jackson biography available for a very long time.