Includes bibliographical references and index.

"However people remember Jackson, no one can deny that, in cultural terms, Jackson remains a compelling subject: an icon of the late 20th century, he reflects not only the changes in the circumstances of the African American population, but changes in white America. Jackson was idolized, perhaps even objectified into an extraordinary being for whom there were no established reference points in whites' conceptions. This book posits that Jackson was a creation of, at first, American and, later, global culture at a time when it seemed desirable, if not necessary to exalt a Black person on merit. America had become a society in which someone of Jackson's indisputable genius not only can, but must, rise to the top"