Elvis and Gladys

Who on the planet doesn't know that Elvis Presley gave electrifying performances and enthralled millions? Who doesn't know that he was the King of Rock 'n' Roll? But who knows that the King himself lived in the thrall of one dominant person? This was Gladys Smith Presley, his protective, indulgent, beloved mother. Elvis and Gladys, one of the best researched and most acclaimed books on Elvis's early life, celebrates the extraordinary role Gladys played in her son's formative years. Uncovering facts not seen by other biographers, Elvis and Gladys reconstructs for the first time the history of the mother and son's devoted relationship and reveals new information about Elvis -- his Cherokee ancestry, his boyhood obsession with comic books, and his early compulsion to rescue his family from poverty. "For once, a legend is presented to us by the mind and heart of a literate, careful biographer who cares," wrote Liz Smith in the New York Daily News when Elvis and Gladys was originally published in 1985.

The Boston Globe called this thoughtful, informative biography of one of popular music's most enduring stars "nothing less than the best Elvis book yet."