Product Description

This slip-cased edition offers the two volumes of arguably the first serious biography of Elvis Presley that refuses to dwell on his myth. Aiming instead to portray in vivid, dramatic terms the life and career of this outstanding artistic and cultural phenomenon, they draw together a plethora of documentary and interview material to create a coherent and narrative. The first volume, "Last Train to Memphis", covers Presley's stunning rise and ended with his departure for Germany and his mother's unexpected death in 1958, while "Careless Love" covers the great years of the 60s and the difficult, decadent later part of Elvis's life, up to its untimely end in 1977.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #591716 in Books
• Published on: 2000-02
• Format: Box set
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 2
• Binding: Paperback
• 1327 pages

About the Author
Peter Guralnick is not only an acclaimed biographer but a cultural historian, the author of several famously received books about blues, country and western, and soul music.

Customer Reviews

The best Elvis biography
Of all the thousands of biographies of Elvis Presley, this is easily the best one because Guralnick is a fine writer and a relentless researcher. He neither over-idolizes Elvis nor sugarcoats the more troubling aspects of his life. When he is conflicted about the "truth" as it has been told by multiple sources, he says so. The reader always feels how deeply respectful of Elvis the writer is and how seriously he has taken his responsibility to the truth, in so far as he himself has been capable of finding it. Notes at the back of the book are fascinating in themselves; they too are a rich source of information. Not only does this two-volume set provide an intimate, honest, and fair view of Elvis Presley, but it also offers insight into the role of the responsible biographer to his reader and to his subject.