Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction: This Thing Called Life 1: Not Red, Not Blue, But Purple: Prince and Politics 2: His Own Genre: Prince and Sound 3: We Created This: Prince and Race 4: Something That You’ll Never Understand: Prince and Gender 5: Let Your Body Be Free: Prince and Sex 6: Looking for the Ladder: Prince and Religion 7: Transformed: Prince and Death Notes Bibliography Index

Promotional Information

An illuminating exploration of what Prince meant to American and global culture.

About the Author

Joseph Vogel is Assistant Professor of English at Merrimack College, USA. He is the author of Man in the Music: The Creative Life and Work of Michael Jackson (2011) and James Baldwin and the 1980s: Witnessing the Reagan Era (forthcoming 2018). His work has appeared on numerous popular news sites, including The Atlantic, Slate, The Huffington Post, and PopMatters, as well as in many peer-reviewed journals, including the James Baldwin Review, the F. Scott Fitzgerald Review, The Journal of Popular Culture, and the Journal of Popular Music Studies.

Reviews

Vogel briskly collates his evidence (songs, interviews, other critics) meticulously tracing patterns in Prince’s evolution ... Illuminating though it is, his book can’t quite crack Prince’s mysterious code. That, for fans, might well be its greatest strength.
*The Sunday Times*

Vogel lets Prince's legacy shine in all its vague and erratic splendor. 9/10 stars.
*PopMatters*

A meticulously researched tribute to its subject, this incisive book will lull its readers into revisiting Prince's prolific catalogue with renewed eyes and ears.
*Classic Pop Magazine*

Tackling a notoriously private musician of hieroglyphic complexity, Vogel deconstructs Prince’s astounding body of work with refreshing clarity and remarkable insight. Meticulous and thoughtful, Vogel brings a scholarly richness to the study of an icon who deserves the royal treatment.
*Jason King, Director of Global Studies at The Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, New York University, USA*

I wrote a book about Prince, so I know how hard it is. This Thing Called Life is a great one. Smart, thorough, and illuminating, Vogel's book is a must-have for fans of Prince.
*Touré, author of I Would Die 4 U: Why Prince Became an Icon (2013)*

What a welcome and inspiring addition to the pages devoted to Prince’s life! A rare and complex artist is better understood when viewed through his art, and not just his personal history. Vogel chooses this route to explore the extramusical dialectic that Prince helped to shape, including gender, race, sex, and religious views. This Thing Called Life is erudite, accurate, and, above all, entrancing.
*Susan Rogers, Professor of Music Production and Engineering, Berklee College of Music, USA, and Prince’s recording engineer*