Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley

The New York Times hailed Peter Guralnick's Last Train to Memphis as a "triumph of biographical art." Careless Love, the concluding volume of his masterful two-volume life of Elvis Presley, confirms Guralnick's status as one of the greatest biographers of our time.

Recounting the last two decades of Elvis's life -- from his army service in 1958 to his premature death, in Memphis in 1977 -- Careless Love unlocks the tragic mystery of the King's transformation. Guralnick chronicles the unraveling of a rock-'n'-roll dream, homing in on the complex relationship between Elvis and his Machiavellian manager, Colonel Tom Parker; his marriage to the bewitching Priscilla Beaulieu; his growing addiction to prescription drugs; and of course, the legendary music that made it all happen.

This is the quintessential American story, encompassing elements of race, class, wealth, sex, music, religion, and personal evolution. Written with grace, sensitivity, and previously unimagined detail, Careless Love is a unique contribution to our understanding of American pop culture and the nature of success and downfall. Guralnick finally places the events of a too-often mistold tale in a fresh, believable context.

Of Last Train to Memphis, Bob Dylan wrote, "Elvis steps from the pages, you can feel him breathe, this book cancels out all others."