Rating: 
Summary: Off The Charts
Review: The genuine interesting story of Motown should be dedicated to the amazing catalogue of hit songs. Where this book falls off the charts for me is all the stuff about personal lives that adds nothing but sensationalism about world-famous people. Do we really need to know who screwed (in the real sense or otherwise) whom? It reads like one of TV's "inside reporting" jobs on celebrities, and maybe that's the wide audience the writer is trying to tap into. Motown was about the music. That, however, is just the starting platform of this book and quickly left behind. For me, the rest of the data is a Big Who Cares?
Rating:
Summary: Off The Charts
Review: The genuine interesting story of Motown should be dedicated to the amazing catalogue of hit songs. Where this book falls off the charts for me is all the stuff about personal lives that adds nothing but sensationalism about world-famous people. Do we really need to know who screwed (in the real sense or otherwise) whom? It reads like one of TV's "inside reporting" jobs on celebrities, and maybe that's the wide audience the writer is trying to tap into. Motown was about the music. That, however, is just the starting platform of this book and quickly left behind. For me, the rest of the data is a Big Who Cares?
Rating: 
Summary: Sadly inaccurate work
Review: This book was a disappointment because so much of the information was wrong. Page after page this book was loaded with errors that even the casual Motown fan can find. If you don't know anything about Motown, I can see how someone would enjoy it, but why learn about a company with wrong information? I would recommend the books by Berry Gordy (founder), Mary Wilson (Supreme), Martha Reeves (Vandellas), Jack Ashford (Funk Brothers), Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Peter Rivera (Rare Earth), and others first. This is where much of Mr. Posner gets his information from, before he confused many of the facts.
Rating:
Summary: Sadly inaccurate work
Review: This book was a disappointment because so much of the information was wrong. Page after page this book was loaded with errors that even the casual Motown fan can find. If you don't know anything about Motown, I can see how someone would enjoy it, but why learn about a company with wrong information? I would recommend the books by Berry Gordy (founder), Mary Wilson (Supreme), Martha Reeves (Vandellas), Jack Ashford (Funk Brothers), Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Peter Rivera (Rare Earth), and others first. This is where much of Mr. Posner gets his information from, before he confused many of the facts.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting..but!
Review: This is an interesting book on Motown and Berry Gordy, if this is your first venture into the area. As it turns out, I had first read Berry Gordy's book "To Be Loved" about six months back. Unfortunately perhaps the largest part of this book is quotes from Gordy's book so it is much like reading the Gordy book again. There were a few areas Posner got into, that Gordy did not, but essentially it was a rehash. As far as the overall read, for information gained, I liked the Gordy book better, and I did not feel this book added any startling or shocking insight.
Rating:
Summary: What a crock!!!!!
Review: Why do people keep writing these stupid tell-all tabloid trash books about Motown? All Posner does is re-do the same stories we heard over and over again (Florence Ballard, Tammi Terrell, etc). Yes, these people had sad lives and I am truly sorry for the problems they had, but Posner doesn't add anything to the stories. He simply re-hashes them. Also, I'm sick of reading the "Dynasty" style stories Berry Gordy and Diana Ross. I'm not saying they are either saints or sinners. They are people with many flaws.
I thought maybe Posner would concentrate on the music, which he rarely does. If I have to read another sentence about the awful "Mahagony" movie, I think I'll get sick.
I wish someone would write a book about Motown's music and just stick to that. If writing about various Motown artists' problems can help them or their families, then I'm all for it, but dredging up tabloid/trash stories is just plain bad!
Like one other reviewer stated, I did find the section on Motown's practices with cut-out albums interesting.
Sorry to rant and rave so much but I agree with the reviewer who said check it out of the library. I concur!
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