BIO

Joe Vogel, 2013

JOSEPH VOGEL is the author of five books, including the critically-acclaimed Man in the Music: The Creative Life and Work of Michael Jackson (Sterling, 2011) and the award-winning Free Speech 101 (WindRiver, 2006). His work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Huffington Post and PopMatters, among other publications. His writing interests include American music, film, literature and popular culture.

Vogel is considered a leading authority on pop icon, Michael Jackson. His comprehensive book on the artist’s solo work – Man in the Music — has been praised  as “the definitive book on Michael Jackson.” Vogel has written several other exclusive pieces on the artist, interviewed many of Jackson’s close collaborators and been consulted as an expert by media around the world, including the Associated Press, NPR, Forbes, Salon, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Democracy Now, Spin, AOL Music, Entertainment Weekly, Yahoo!, The Root, and The Michael Eric Dyson Show. He has also appeared in several documentaries, presented at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and guest lectured at universities, libraries and conferences across the country. In 2012, Vogel was featured in Spike Lee’s critically-acclaimed documentary, Bad 25.

Vogel’s books and articles have been translated into over a dozen languages. He currently resides in New York where he is a doctoral candidate and instructor at the University of Rochester.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

• 20th Century American Literature; Hollywood Film and Music Videos; Popular Music; African American Studies; Masculinity and Gender; 1980s History and Culture

EDUCATION

• Ph.D., University of Rochester, English (ABD)
• M.A., University of Rochester, English
• B.A., Utah Valley University, English

COURSES

• Fall/Spring 2012-2013 Black or White: Race, Identity and Representation
• Fall/Spring 2011-12: Fearful Innocence: Constructions of Childhood
• Summer 2011: American Promises: Freedoms in Conflict
• Fall/Spring 2010-11: Romanticism and Rock
• Fall/Spring 2009-10: Imagining Identity in the Age of Facebook

FAVORITE WRITERS

• James Baldwin, Walt Whitman, William Blake, Langston Hughes, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ralph Ellison, George Orwell, Chaim Potok, Dave Eggers

FAVORITE MUSICAL ARTISTS

• Michael Jackson, Prince, Stevie Wonder, John Lennon, Radiohead, The Beatles, Queen, Arcade Fire, The Police, Sting, Debussy, Miles Davis, Frank Ocean