Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley has been one of the most vivid & enduring myths of American culture. This is the first biography to go past that myth & present an Elvis beyond the legend. Based on hundreds of interviews & nearly a decade of research, it traces the evolution not just of the man but of the music & of the culture he left utterly transformed, creating a completely fresh portrait of Elvis & his world. This volume tracks the first 24 years of Elvis life, covering his childhood, the stunning first recordings at Sun Records, & the early RCA hits. These were the years of his improbable self-invention & unprecedented triumphs, when it seemed that everything that Elvis tried succeeded wildly. But in 1958, he was drafted into the army & his mother died shortly thereafter. The book closes on that somber & poignant note. Drawing frequently on Elvis own words & on the recollections of those closes to him, Guralnik offers an emotional, complex portrait of young Elvis Presley.