83 Minutes: The Doctor, the Damage, and the Shocking Death of Michael Jackson

Whether or not you are a fan of the late great Michael Jackson this book is a must-read for anyone interested in the behind-the-scenes machinations of a global brand that generated as much as $500 million a year at its peak. MJ's unparalleled talent & prowess at singing dance songwriting & stage performance were recognized as early as when he was a mere 9 years old. Everyone knows and accepts this. However this child was worked like a pack animal in that he & his brothers' group generated hundreds of jobs, paid mortgages college tuitions & put food on tables of dozens of employees of scores of companies that relied on Jackson product to generate profit. When Michael went solo because his talents were so astounding & uniquely powerful the world exploded. MJ not only influenced music but fashion culture politics --- everything -- & he became a truly global force. He was pulled in many different directions by incessant greed from dozens of entities individuals cartels & companies worldwide. This book is well-researched & succinctly written. The authors break down the behind-the-scenes horrors that eventually broke Michael's psyche into a million pieces & he perished as a drug addict under unbearable pressure to generate wealth for all that gathered around rubbing their greedy paws and drooled w Schadenfreude & glee as he suffered & eventually died. The ruthless monsters that ran AIG & hired Conrad Murray to care for their cash cow/drug addict for whom the company cared not one whit but that only that MJ the icon could get up on stage in London & dance for 2.5 hours a night for a constantly escalating number of shows that mushroomed from the original handshake deal of 10 shows to a fantasy number of a truly impossible 50 concerts. Nobody cared about the real human being -- the 50-year-old Michael Jackson who was obviously disintegrating mentally & physically to an alarming degree. A group of hardcore fans who slavishly followed MJ around to concerts & TV tapings & recording sessions heard that part of the L.A. Staples Center was being used as a rehearsal venue for the AIG London shows. The fans came to give MJ a special coat they made him to wear at the London shows. When they saw MJ up close in person they were so horrified they wrote to his managers, his choreographer --- anyone who would listen -- that they feared Michael would die soon as he looked like a skeleton & was so high he could barely speak & when he did speak he repeated the same thing over & over again & seemed to be not only intoxicated but dangerously ill & on the verge of a compete mental & physical breakdown. Michael was incapable of attending most rehearsals for the London gigs so Conrad Murray was threatened by AIG that he would be fired if he could not get Michael to stand up on stage and sing & dance. Murray who is a deadbeat dad of 7 children by 6 women & drowning in $$hundreds of thousands of debt was desperate to get Michael to perform so that Murray would not lose his high-paying job. Thus Murray began began to drug Jackson w even more outrageous amounts of narcotics than MJ was already getting from other doctors. Murray agreed to administer to MJ the extremely powerful surgical anesthetic propofol in a home setting -- when any doctor knows this drug is ONLY to be administered in a hospital setting with proper equipment to maintain respiration. It was only a matter of time before Murray OD'd Jackson and killed him. MJ was dead just weeks after his desperate fans --- the only people around him who actually cared about Michael Jackson the human being -- tried in vain to find somebody -- anybody -- who would break rank & put a stop to the snowballing circus of greed that ended MJ's life in one of the most bizarre & gruesome death scenes imaginable. This book is very, very difficult to read but eye-opening & truly shocking on many levels. This book clearly shows that the greed of countless ruthless lawyers inept managers incompetent consultants bogus advisers & even MJ's own family led to his early demise. Truly nobody had MJ's back. Even his own family's mock concern was just lip service. Even up to the day Michael died, Joe Jackson tried desperately to coerce MJ to add yet another concert to his ridiculously overpacked schedule which was to be a reunion of the Jackson brothers to be performed in the US & squeezed in between the series of London shows that had been booked although MJ was far too strung out on opiates to possibly be able to perform any of those shows. Nonetheless Joseph Jackson begged Michael to do a proposed US Jacksons reunion performance because Michael was offered $20,000,000 to sing only 3 songs & his brothers would be paid a lump sum of 5 million to do some other J5 oldies but goodies. Joe would get paid 10% of that 25 million as commission so stood to make $2.5 million & he & Kathryn could comfortably retire in Encino. They could live happily ever after in the Hayvenhurst house which Michael had paid off for his parents since Joe could not make the mortgage payments since he had no income as Michael had long since fired his father as his manager & the other Jackson brothers rarely worked. So even as Michael had withered to a chronically intoxicated babbling skeleton due to drug addiction & overwork & bizarre lawsuits by multibillionaire sheiks who wanted paltry loans repaid & threats by his record label to garnish his publishing catalogue as well as the Beatles catalogue he'd legitimately purchased at the time of his demise MJ was swarmed by vultures. Including his own father who tried to suck more $$$$ from Michael & asked Kathryn his mother to bait & beg & use her motherly influence on Michael to get him to agree to do the US Jackson reunion gig. Michael did not live long enough to see the contracts for that show because he died at the hand of the outrageously incompetent Conrad Murray who was never even vetted by AIG but blindly entrusted w the life of their corporation's cash cow named Michael Jackson. This book is a tough read but well worth it.

My interest in this book was medical perspective of MJ's death. If you want to read about MJ's life, this may not be what you're looking for.We've all heard the axiom that the cover-up is worse than the crime, but never is that more apparent than in this account of the last hours of Michael Jackson's life. Endless excuses and revised timelines by the doctor in the house are examined carefully and contrasted with evidence in the form of records showing that Dr. C's story as told by him (in multiple versions and reversions) fell far from meeting the evidence that showed he was not at the bedside, and not in attendance at the times claimed.It's a pretty sad commentary on all the people and agencies who stood to benefit from MJ's death. MJ was bankrupt and said himself that he was worth more dead than alive. The multiple doctors treating him apparently didn't communicate with one another. Anyone who's worked in the medical field knows propofol is strictly an inpatient therapy, but the quantities and purchases of this and many other drugs by Dr. C to treat MJ are startling.Polypharmacy to the extreme, mixed with a doctor who would only be paid if his patient performed (in a scheduled tour). Not defending anybody as there are no winners in this sad situation, but 83 Minutes makes a convincing case that this particular death was entirely predictable and totally preventable.

The book sounded interesting, but really doesn't offer much new info. If you've followed MJ's death closely, it only rehashes what was already known. However, the last chapter does offer food for thought. If you don't believe that MJ's death was simply the result of a careless doctor, you will find the various conspiracy theories an interesting read. It's too bad they didn't investigate them---too bad the police didn't either, for that matter!

I have read a lot about Michael and his surroundings, background and career. This book is one of the neutral ones of which you think: yes, this can be. There is no air of garbage about it. The author doesn't take anyone's side but simply writes what could be. I'm very closely following anything about Michael. I'm no fan but I knew him.

awesome book, very in depth account of the day's-hours leading up to and what medications he was given before he died. Would recomend this book if you would like to know what and how Michael Jackson died and why. Well written and researched.

Since I followed the trials most of this info was not new. The side bar comments and ultra detailed commentary was condescending, on left field tangents, and at times annoying, in my opinion

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Read the book

I can't express how profoundly moving this book is.Read it! Truly brilliant

Ich habe bereits viele Bücher über M.J. gelesen und auf „83 Minutes habe ich schon gewartet bevor es endlich erschienen ist. Trotzdem habe ich 2 Monate gebraucht um es zu Ende zu lesen. Manchmal musste ich schon nach 2-3 Seiten wieder eine Pause machen weil mir das Beschriebene so nahe ging. Das Buch beschreibt Michael Jacksons letzte Monate, die Umstände in denen er sich befand und seinen Gesundheitszustand inkl. seiner extremen Abhängigkeit nach verschreibungspflichtigen Medikamenten. Obwohl es nichts Neues für mich war hat es doch wehgetan über den „Verfall“ eines/meines Pop-Idols so detailliert informiert zu werden. Daher kann ich Fans dieses Buch auch nur bedingt empfehlen, da es traurig und nachdenklich macht. Davon abgesehen ist es wirklich äußerst gut recherchiert und enthält viele wichtige Informationen um schicksalhafte Zusammenhänge in Bezug auf Michael Jacksons Leben und Sterben besser zu verstehen. Über die Beteiligten von AEG Live und Dr. (es fällt mir hier wirklich schwer diesen Mann als Arzt zu bezeichnen) Conrad Murray gibt es auch genug zu erfahren. Schön fand ich in Kapitel 12 die „Was wäre wenn“ Fantasie. Wenn M.J. nicht gestorben wäre, er einen Drogenentzug geschafft hätte und dadurch die Konzerte in der O2 Arena in London vielleicht/wahrscheinlich ein voller Erfolg gewesen wären. Ja, das konnte und wollte ich mir gern vorstellen. Leider ist/war die bittere Wahrheit Welten davon entfernt. Mühsam sind auf jeden Fall die unendlich vielen Fußnoten in diesem Buch. Es ist sehr umständlich ständig hin und her zu blättern um die passenden Infos am Buchende zu finden da die Kapitel nur immer am Kapitelanfang benannt sind und man hier schwer den Überblick behält wo man sich gerade beim Lesen befindet. Die Fußnoten am Ende des Buches einfach durchzulesen macht natürlich auch nur bedingt Sinn da man sie dann aus dem Zusammenhang liest. Besser wäre es gewesen die Fußnoten am Ende jeder Seite einzufügen. Abschließend kann ich dieses Buch auf jeden Fall allen interessierten Lesern empfehlen – man muss dafür kein M.J. Fan sein. Wer ein eher heiteres Buch mit vielen Anekdoten aus Michael Jacksons Leben lesen möchte dem sei „My Friend Michael“ von Frank Cascio empfohlen. Wer „alles“ über Michael Jackson erfahren will auch über die Zustände in seiner Todesnacht der kann an diesem Buch nicht vorbei. Für das sicherlich mühevolle Zusammentragen all dieser Informationen gibt es von mir 4 Sterne. 5 Sterne mag ich nicht geben, da es für einen M.J. Fan wirklich schwer zu verdauen ist und wegen der vielen Fußnoten. ****