Books about Presley from Amazon.com

Commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of ElvisÂ’s death, an intimate memoir of a friendship with the greatest artist in rock and roll history, taking you from late-night parties at Graceland to the bright lights of Hollywood sets and glittering stages of Vegas.

On a lazy Sunday in 1954, twelve-year-old Jerry Schilling wandered into a Memphis touch football game, only to discover that his team was quarterbacked by a nineteen-year-old Elvis Presley, the local teenager whose first record, “That’s All Right,” had just received its first play on Memphis radio. The two became fast friends, even as Elvis turned into the world’s biggest star. In 1964, Elvis invited Jerry to work for him as part of his “Memphis Mafia,” and Jerry soon found himself living with Elvis full-time in a Bel Air mansion and, later, in his own room at Graceland. Over the next thirteen years Jerry would work for Elvis in various capacities—from bodyguard to photo double to co-executive producer on a karate film.

Me and a Guy Named Elvis looks at Presley from a friendÂ’s perspective, offering readers the man rather than the icon. Spanning ElvisÂ’s meteoric rise to those later troubled years, JerryÂ’s story offers never-before-told stories about life inside ElvisÂ’s inner circle, and an insightful, emotional recounting of the great times, hard times, and unique times he and Elvis shared. SchillingÂ’s vivid memories will be priceless to ElvisÂ’s millions of fans, and his compelling life story will be fascinating to an even wider audience..
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There's no mention of sequins, drugs, or peanut butter in this understated biography of the teenaged Elvis, a serious and worthy attempt to answer the question, "Who was this guy before he was an icon, the voice of a generation, the King?" The essential clarity and honesty of Guralnick's prose clearly limns the eager, malleable boy whose immense talent changed the course of American music. .
Price: $9.01 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Put on your blue suede shoes and get ready for the latest title in the Who Was…? series! The King could not have come from humbler origins: Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, during the Depression, he grew up with the blues music of the rural South, the gospel music of local churches, and the country-western classics But he forged a sound all his own—and a look that was all his own, too. With curled lip, swiveling hips, and greased pompadour, Elvis changed popular music forever, ushering in the age of rock and roll. Geoff Edgers’s fascinating biography of this icon of American pop culture includes blackand- white illustrations on nearly every spread..
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Until Peter Guralnick came out with Last Train to Memphis in 1994, most biographies of Elvis Presley--especially those written by people with varying degrees of access to his "inner circle"--were filled with starstruck adulation, and those that weren't in awe of their subject invariably went out of their way to take potshots at the rock & roll pioneer (with Albert Goldman's 1981 Elvis reaching now-legendary levels of bile and condescension). Guralnick's exploration of Elvis's childhood and rise to fame was notable for its factual rigorousness and its intimate appreciation of Presley's musical agenda.

Picking up where the first volume left off, Guralnick sees Elvis through his tour of duty with the U.S. Army in Germany, where he first met--and was captivated by--a 14-year-old girl named Priscilla Beaulieu. We may think we know the story from this point: the return to America, the near-decade of B-movies, eventual marriage to Priscilla, a brief flash of glory with the '68 comeback, and the surrealism of "fat Elvis" decked out in bejeweled white jumpsuits, culminating in a bathroom death scene. And while that summary isn't exactly false, Guralnick's account shows how little perspective we've had on Elvis's life until now, how a gross caricature of the final years has come to stand for the life itself. He treats every aspect of Presley's life--including forays into spiritual mysticism and the growing dependency on prescription drugs--with dignity and critical distance. More importantly, Careless Love continues to show that Guralnick "gets" what Presley was trying to do as an artist: "I see him in the same way that I think he saw himself from the start," the introduction states, "as someone whose ambition it was to encompass every strand of the American musical tradition." From rock to blues to country to gospel, Guralnick discusses how, at his finest moments, Elvis was able to fulfill that dream. --Ron Hogan.
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More than 50 of Elvis' favorite recipes. Includes his mama's recipes for mashed potatoes and lemon meringue pie, peanut butter and 'nana sandwiches' and Priscilla's magnificent wedding cake (make the whole thing or only a tier). With great pictures of Elvis at work and play as well as full-color food photography. 70 photos, mostly color. 64 pages. 8 1/2 X 11. GRAMERCY..
Price: $4.84 [Notify me when price goes down.]

With three steamy books by the women in Elvis's life already published (1997's Elvis: In the Twilight of Memory by June Juanico; Priscilla Beaulieu Presley's 1991 tell-all, Elvis and Me; and Joyce Bova's Don't Ask Forever: My Love Affair with Elvis), can the world absorb another? Suzanne Finstad, author of Child Bride: The Untold Story of Priscilla Beaulieu Presley, certainly hopes so.

With as many darkly intriguing details as the chambers of Graceland, Finstad--journalist, lawyer, and author of two true-crime books--defends her own theories on the complexity and grit of the former Mrs. Presley. Why did she conspire with her mother to keep her paternity a secret? How old was she when she took up with the King? Suzanne Finstad treats us to her own exhaustively researched version of the facts..
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