Rating: 
Summary: very satisfying read...one of the year's best
Review: A quick note on Ponser's book. I probably would have never picked up a book about Motown or sought one out, but decided to take a quick look at the bookstore and was immediately intrigued. I think that it's a great read, and never felt that the narration was slow or dull at any moment. It had a fast paced energy that kept me wanting more. I thought that the way the drama between Motown's management and stars developed was more fascinating than a year of soap operas.:)
Particularly the sections about Diana Ross's relationship with Gordy and Gordy's business moves into film. Overall...I'm very impressed with the writing and the book has compelled me to look more into Motown's music to help fully understand what is so fascinating about this period of music making. I loved it! Great job, Gerald!
Rating:
Summary: very satisfying read...one of the year's best
Review: A quick note on Ponser's book. I probably would have never picked up a book about Motown or sought one out, but decided to take a quick look at the bookstore and was immediately intrigued. I think that it's a great read, and never felt that the narration was slow or dull at any moment. It had a fast paced energy that kept me wanting more. I thought that the way the drama between Motown's management and stars developed was more fascinating than a year of soap operas.:)
Particularly the sections about Diana Ross's relationship with Gordy and Gordy's business moves into film. Overall...I'm very impressed with the writing and the book has compelled me to look more into Motown's music to help fully understand what is so fascinating about this period of music making. I loved it! Great job, Gerald!
Rating:
Summary: Motown: Berry, Relationships, Schemes, & Amok-isms
Review: Books and movies on the Funk Brothers and Motown artists enrapture readers and viewers with Motown's mobilized creativity and the never-again equalled gems. This book, Motown: Music, Money, Sex, and Power, by Gerald Posner is a great read with a different perspective. It shows the toils, foibles, relationships, un-substantiated schemes, and amok-isms behind the skin of the Motown company ("Beauty is only skin deep." Yawn, yes. But, it is true.). Rather than enrapturing, this book evokes, at times, admiration and, at times, revulsion. The book suggests that Berry Gordy's greatnesses helped build the beautiful Motown and his weaknesses gave Motown cardiac arrest to the abandonment of the Detroit musicians, artists, and the world-wide listening public. The reader infers from this book that Berry Gordy, perhaps alone, landed on his feet - a rich man of questionable conscience with many good people left as his road kill. Read this book (and others) to see whether you share in my perception or not.
Rating: 
Summary: No Motown expert, that's for sure
Review: I personally wasn't interested in buying this book, especially after reading some of it at a Barnes and Noble bookstore. I didn't see anything "gutsy" about what Posner wrote because it's all been said before. Several passages I knew sounded familiar, and then I realized why--I had already read them in other books and bios written about Motown and the artists that were on the label. Some of the text was directly taken from other publications. Couldn't that be called plagiarism?? Posner, to me, was basically rewriting so-called "juicy" info he had read in other books and tried to package it in a way that it would make the readers run out and buy it...best example is the title alone: "Motown: Music, Money, Sex, and Power". Anyone who has skills as a writer could have done the exact same thing. And then he tries to pass himself off as some kind of "expert" on Motown history? Please, give me a break. He did not even interview one person in the Motown organization while writing it. And to add to that, he got many facts about the artists and the records WRONG. Another thing that irritated me about this book is that Posner mentions rumors about certain people as FACT! What kind of reputable writer does this?? There are better books out there about Motown written by people who were there or had talked to those who were...Gerald Posner needs to stick to writing about JFK and Lee Harvey Oswald, although I doubt if he just sat down and read books about them to compile his info. But knowing what is in this Motown book of his, I would not be surprized in the least if he gave JFK/Oswald the same treatment.
Rating:
Summary: Sad
Review: I really don't know what to say about this book. This book was just a rehash of what we already know from the various stars' memoirs. A lot of what he took was from Berry's book. He did reveal some things about Motown's business practices that were eye-openers. He also talks about what happened to flow and that whole situation was a crying shame. I found the parts about Hollywood Motown to be interesting. The failure of some of their movies just proves the point that everybody can't do everything. I did read this book, start to finish, in two days though.
Rating: 
Summary: So So book
Review: I really don't know what to say about this book. This book was just a rehash of what we already know from the various stars' memoirs. A lot of what he took was from Berry's book. He did reveal some things about Motown's business practices that were eye-openers. He also talks about what happened to flow and that whole situation was a crying shame. I found the parts about Hollywood Motown to be interesting. The failure of some of their movies just proves the point that everybody can't do everything. I did read this book, start to finish, in two days though.
Rating: 
Summary: IT'S THE SAME OLD SONG
Review: Looking over Mr. Posner's previous work, I expected much more. What I got instead is a book that,quite frankly, I could have written myself. It seems that Mr. Posner and I have read the same Motown books over the years. Hardly any of the info in this one is new. To be fair, Mr. Posner does reveal some info from court documents that is interesting, but these revelations are very brief and don't make up for the rest of the book.. The repeated information wouldn't be so bad if there weren't also so many inaccuracies in the rest of the book. The Supremes reunion at MOTOWN 25 was unplanned? Unrehearsed maybe, but certainly not unplanned. Marvin Gaye's song SEXUAL HEALING was his first number one hit since WHAT'S GOING ON? Not true. Florence Ballard did marry Thomas Chapman,. Yet, in this book, he is only referred to as her boyfriend, even after they had three children together. If you know nothing about Motown, this book is a quick way to get acquainted. If you are a Motown completist, you'll probably add this book to your collection anyway. But be forwarned: ain't nothin' new!
Rating:
Summary: Outsider Tries to Look In
Review: One has to wonder what the point is behind this analysis of Motown. The problems can be seen right at the beginning of the book, as Posner describes in the preface that he was unable to interview virtually anybody. His main source of information is court records from the numerous lawsuits against Motown from artists trying to get their royalties. Therefore this is a very biased and lopsided book. First, Posner is clearly not a music writer and has extremely little understanding of the classic music of Motown and the social forces that shaped it and were shaped by it. When attempting to describe the sounds he can only use shallow adjectives like "funky" or "sharp." Posner instead focuses on the business behind the Motown phenomenon, as Berry Gordy started with $800 and built one of the greatest record labels in history, but then was unable to prevent its slow and painful downfall. However, as noted above, Posner mainly uses legal documents as evidence, so his stance on business practices is tilted toward Gordy's enemies from the outset. Worst is Posner's coverage of individuals, especially Gordy himself. Since Posner admits that he interviewed nobody, then his descriptions of a person's private thoughts and beliefs, which he attempts frequently, can only be copied straight from other biographies with little surrounding context. Posner also easily joins the parade of disparagement against Diana Ross, who may just deserve people's wrath, but you should be suspicious when a person is criticized but is not there to give their side of the story. Posner also gets in over his head when trying to analyze the complex personalities of Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. Finally his slow-moving writing style doesn't give you the incentive to turn the pages, and the end of the story is appallingly weak with a halfhearted attempt to wrap up Motown's place in history. If you are interested in the classic music of Motown and its talented stars, go elsewhere, please. This book does a better job of analyzing the business of Motown but is too fragmented and second-hand for true believability. If you're interested in that subject, also go elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: A Total Waste Of Your Money
Review: Posner's book is nothing more than rehashed stories and urban myths. When it comes to the music, he more often than not, gets it all wrong. This book is full of mistakes regarding when songs were released, who recorded them first, on and on and on...As bad as Tony Turner's book was, I'd recommend it any day over this trash. Hardly any of the label's singers appear to be happy about ever having recorded there. Diana Ross once again gets kicked around and blamed for everyone's lack of sustained sales and stardom. Big surprise there. And his recent appearance on the E! True Hollywood Story about Diana Ross - what happened, they couldn't get Mary Wilson to talk about how evil Ross is, so they carted out Mr. Posner who's never even met her? For a more balanced story about Motown, real Nelson George's "Where Did Our Love Go", if you can.
Rating:
Summary: Sad
Review: Rather than concentrate on the music coming out of Motown, Mr. Posner mostly trashes the women at Motown. Does he have a bias towards African American women? He trashes Suzanne de Passe by implying that she had no business skills and that she suffered from a weight problem. He stated that Tammi Terrell was a promiscuous and had a drinking problem (he probably read the book by that woman that claimed to married to David Ruffin). And since he made that statement about Ms. Terrell, why didn't he mention that she was involved with James Brown? Posner states that Florence Ballard had her boyfriend manage her career but he it's obvious he didn't do too much homework because Flo married Tommy Chapman. I guess it suited Posner's frame of mind to make the women at Motown look like a bunch of loose women just to suit the title of his book. The only thing that was interesting in his book is the way Motown ripped off the artists and producers by selling records at a discount so they didn't have to pay royalties. If you're a Motown fan, please check this book out of the library because it's not worth purchasing.
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