Peter Guralnick: Last Train to Memphis & Careless Love

Peter Guralnick’s definitive and award-winning two-volume biography of Elvis Presley

This deluxe paperback boxed set includes Guralnick’s two bestselling books about Elvis Presley, Last Train to The Rise of Elvis Presley and Careless The Unmaking of Elvis Presley .

From the moment that he first shook up the world in the mid 1950s, Elvis Presley has been one of the most vivid and enduring myths of American culture. Peter Guralnick’s biography is the first to go past that myth and present an Elvis beyond the legend. Based on hundreds of interviews and nearly a decade of research, it traces the evolution not just of the man but of the music and of the culture he left utterly transformed, creating a completely fresh portrait of Elvis and his world.

The first volume, Last Train to Memphis , tracks the first twenty-four years of Elvis’ life, covering his childhood, the stunning first recordings at Sun Records (“That’s All Right,” “Mystery Train”), and the early RCA hits (“Heartbreak Hotel,” “Hound Dog,” “Don’t Be Cruel”). These were the years of his improbable self-invention and unprecedented triumphs, when it seemed that everything that Elvis tried succeeded wildly. There was scarcely a cloud in sight through this period until, in 1958, he was drafted into the army and his mother died shortly thereafter.

Careless Love , the second volume, recounts the second half of Elvis’ life in rich and previously unimagined detail, beginning with Presley’s army service in Germany in 1958 and ending with his death in Memphis in 1977. Guralnick chronicles the unraveling of the dream that once shone so brightly, homing in on the complex playing-out of Elvis’ relationship with his Machiavellian manager, Colonel Tom Parker. It’s a breathtaking revelatory drama that for the first time places the events of a too-often mistold tale in a fresh, believable, and understandable context.

This is the quintessential American story, encompassing elements of race, class, wealth, sex, music, religion, and personal transformation. Written with grace, sensitivity, and passion, this two-volume biography is a unique contribution to our understanding of American popular culture and the nature of success, giving us true insight at last into one of the most misunderstood public figures of our times.