Product Description

By the early 1970s ELVIS PRESLEY had weathered the British Invasion, a decade of lackluster motion pictures, exile from the Pop Charts and critical assaults by the media to re-assert his position as the dominant figure in entertainment and as a cultural icon of unpreced-ented stature. He not only sold out concert halls, arenas, stadiums, coliseums, forums and show-rooms, he set attendance records that still stand after more than thirty years, from the Hilton Hotel to Madison Square Garden to the Houston Astrodome, back home at the Mid-South Coliseum and finally at Market Square Arena. In every city, town and hamlet, throngs of adoring fans cheered him, mauled him and worshipped him. He recorded platinum albums of golden hits, filled movie houses to capacity with his award-winning rockumentaries, and played a concert via satellite from Hawaii that was seen by the whole wide world. For good measure he was even voted one of the "Ten Most Outstanding Young Men In

America," by The Jaycees and was made a Drug Enforcement Agent "at large" by the President of the United States. Yet in spite of this, he was time and time again knocked out of his hometown headlines by the local high school football team that was blazing its own path to glory. It may have been ELVIS' World, but in Memphis he was just a part of the scene; and it was a scene that he was very much a part of . . .

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2392757 in Books
• Published on: 2003-07
• Binding: Paperback
• 309 pages

Review
...explores the spiritual bond ELVIS and Memphis forged; each had suffered hard times yet overcame thru music and God -- Larry Geller, Author July 5, 2003

AROUND ELVIS is the most socially relevant story ever told about the life and times of this Pop Culture icon. -- Jon Lindquist KLAV 1230 AM Las Vegas

AROUND ELVIS is the most socially relevant story ever told about the life and times of this Pop Culture icon. -- Jon Lindquist KLAV 1230 AM Las Vegas

Reading AROUND ELVIS is a tour of Memphis through ELVIS’ eyes seeing the sights like never before. -- Mitzi Pruette- Fan Club President

This is the first novel written about ELVIS that will be embraced by ELVISITES and bibliophiles since ELVIS & ME. -- Vivica Tetrault- Vivica's Views

This is the first novel written about ELVIS that will be embraced by ELVISITES and bibliophiles since ELVIS & ME. -- Vivica Tetrault- Vivica's Views

This is the story of my brothers; the "KING OF ROCK & ROLL and the Kings of high school football. -- David Stanley Author/ELVIS' stepbrother

From the Publisher
THORNE PETERS is an exciting author of unlimited range. His lyrical prose dances off a page with an epic undercurrent that compels readers to immerse themselves in his tales. This is his first work of non-fiction, but he makes the transition effortlessly with his raconteurial narrative. Thorne captures the essence of this iconic Pop Culture crusader by simplifying his complexities and traveling down the rural paths and mean streets that led ELVIS PRESLEY to unprecedented world acclaim. By telling his story through the eyes of a local man who grew up AROUND ELVIS, Thorne successfully straddles the line between investigative journalist and worshipping fan in a unique way. No historian has ever been so close to their subject and the result is an intimate portrayal that is as unvarnished as it is candy coated. Thorne draws fascinating conclusions as to the inner-workings of ELVIS and speaks to the controversial aspects of his life and death with great sapience. Thorne also weaves ELVIS' story into the fabric of his era and his region, and does an amazing job chronicling the role ELVIS played in the social, racial and cultural upheaval of his time and beyond. In the end AROUND ELVIS is the only novel from written from a ground level perspective that tells the story of ELVIS PRESLEY as part of the history of the world.

From the Inside Flap
As President of the Yours In ELVIS Forever Fan Club, of Memphis TN., I have been privileged to meet many wonderful, fans, friends, acquaintances and family members of ELVIS PRESLEY’S. When I moved to Memphis from Los Angeles, in October of 1998, to live next door to fabled Graceland Mansion, I sought out anyone that’d had any connection or contact at all with ELVIS. I soon found out that he had gotten around; from Beale Street to Tupelo, the area is paved with paths that were crossed by "THE KING."

If ELVIS’ first love was music (tied with women) his second love was certainly football—playing it or simultaneously watching all the games on his three screen television consol. In many interviews he daydreamed aloud of his desire to play professionally and could rattle off the numbers and positions of most every player in the NFL. Also well-documented was how ELVIS would slip away to anonymously catch local high school games, while standing under the bleachers or sitting in his car—often in disguise. He was proud that his stepbrothers acted as "Team Managers" for the Hillcrest High School football team that was the toast of the town in the early ‘70s; in fact when the team eventually played for the state championship, at Memphis Memorial Stadium, on December 7, 1973, ELVIS was watching the game from the press box . . . or so went the rumor . . .

Age-old school rivalries were passed down across generations around here like it was a religion . . . or a feud . . . In the small, Mid-South media world of the early ‘70s, high school football teams enjoyed unusually high visibility in the press and were given star treatment on radio and television and written about with reverence in the papers—often as the lead story in the headlines. They played in front of crowds of over 10,000 people, so they were recognized around town and given access to excess . . . in restaurants and clubs, and at parties, the food, women, liquor and drugs were laid at their feet like spoils of war . . .

This is the story of that team and that era in Memphis, told to me by a man who has lived his entire life around the corner from ELVIS and, because of his friendship with the Stanley Brothers, not only got to meet ELVIS, but was presented to him as the star running back of the football team—to his great surprise, ELVIS already knew who he was . . . ELVIS may've been the "THE KING of the Whole Wide World," but he was a citizen of Whitehaven, TN., known as the "Beverly Hills of Memphis" in his day, and after living both places he chose Whitehaven to be his home. When asked, what he missed the most about Memphis, while away in the Army, ELVIS replied breathlessly: "Everything." Now you'll know why . . .

For 30 years I've been an ardent fan that has studied in detail the aspects and the happenings of ELVIS’ life and career—reading book after book, watching special after special . . . but I learned more about ELVIS while writing this novel than I knew before I started. I discovered grand moments in simple events, earthy tales of the soil he trod, and I discovered the paths he traveled to reach his artistic center. I walked a mile in the shoes of his neighbors through the city that he put on the globe and saw how they looked upon their hometown hero and his stately manor, and through their eyes witnessed the social upheaval, cultural implosion, civil unrest and societal decay that engulfed their beloved community, until ELVIS’ lifelong home and eternal resting place became the most dangerous Metropolitan area in the nation—where high school football games often have final scores and death tolls . . .

Customer Reviews

The heart of Elvis Presley
I predict that this book will become "Elvis 101" for a generation of fans. What sets this book apart from the rest is that Peters is able to take you on a trip thru Elvis' mindset with great understanding and objectivity. He tells of moments and actions in Elvis' life that are well known to us, yet his analysis makes it seem brand new. This is no flight of fancy book as to who Elvis was or what he would've become. He relates Elvis to his time and place in history and in our culture with exaltation, but not deification and makes himself believable in his assertions with his forthright portrayal of the man. He also has his finger on the pulsebeat of Elvis world today and what he writes about the current handling of Elvis' legacy and of Lisa Marie is fantastic. You'll cheer, you'll laugh, you'll cry and in the end you'll rediscover Elvis through this insightful perspective.

The heartland of Elvis Presley
This novel is really something special. It is so warm and personal. A very intimate look into Elvis' heart and soul. I can't say enough good about it. It is not one of those zany books that talk about Elvis being alive or living on another planet and it is not a trash piece. Thorne Peters is obviously secure enough in who he is to embrace the majesty of the greatest of all entertainers. He doesn't use his position as author to try and put himself and his values above Elvis the way Bobbie Ann Mason did in her atrocious book. It isn't some dull statistical picture book or another book by an insider that reads like a daily diary telling worn out stories without perspective. This is the first Elvis book to have a storyline to follow. It actually tells a story about his hometown of Whitehaven and Elvis is the star. But there were all kinds of things going on and there are a lot of stories in this book that have never been told before. This book isn't glossy. He tells it like it is about Elvis in unvarnished detail. But unlike the others he is philosophical enough to tell you why Elvis did the things he did. That's the strength of this book that seperates it from all the others. When he's done Elvis will shine in you eyes like never before. Elvis was a man--a great man. He was not above temptation and petty behavior, but that doesn't mean that he was meanspirited. We shouldn't be angry at him at him because he faltered, we should love him, because he always tried to redeem himself. He was a man that had talent and charisma and a love for life and humanity that led him to sing with all the love in his heart, but he was not the second coming and shouldn't be judged so harshly for having human frailties. This book is a tribute to the love he had for the fans and we have for him.

Elvis like never before
I just knew that Elvis Presley was a real live flesh and blood human being and this novel proves it. Peters has a rare understanding of the man and his idiosyncrasies that are simplistically profound. For instance, I have read many times of how Elvis would troll around morgues studying the dead, but I never understood that the reason was because he had bonded with death at birth when his twin brother died. This book is filled with logical conclusions as to what drove Elvis rather than superficial assumptions. Peters' intimate writing style sweeps you up and holds you from the first page on. He is fair and forthright when dealing with the controversies and does a bold job of taking the current handlers of the legend to task for their poor treatment of the fans and the King's memory. Great psycho analysis of Elvis and his daughter. For those who feel that they've read it all by now, I urge you to read on, because this is the book that does Elvis justice finally.