As a freelance entertainment reporter in Memphis I was one of the first asked to read The Elvis I Remember, before it was made public. By the 6th chapter I could tell the author poured her heart out in telling her story about Elvis. After reading the story I could not decide whether the story was true or not. So I went to those who knew Elvis best, his former associates and family members. When asked about the authenticity of what was written, most changed the subject the moment I mentioned the author's name. Not because they thought it was just another book written by some obsessive fan, but because they were hiding something. If you want to know more about what has been written in this romantic insight to possibly one of Elvis's greatest love affairs, then you are going to have to read it yourself.

Elvis I knew was a superstar, authentic country gentleman and 'unprejudiced' that cherished being around those that regarded him as an ordinary person.

A vibrant, sympathetic portrait of the once and future king of rock 'n' roll by the award-winning author of Shiloh and In Country To this clear-eyed portrait of the first rock 'n' roll superstar, Bobbie Ann Mason brings a novelist's insight and the empathy of a fellow Southerner who, from the first time she heard his voice on the family radio, knew that Elvis was "one of us." Elvis Presley deftly braids the mythic and human aspects of his story, capturing both the charismatic, boundary-breaking singer who reveled in his celebrity and the soft-spoken, working-class Southern boy who was fatally unprepared for his success. The result is a riveting, tragic book that goes to the heart of the American dream.

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, reconstructs 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. Coming to life in the compelling narrative is the poignant story of a unique boy and the maternal tie that bound him. It is at once an intimate psychological portrait of a tragic relationship and a mesmerizing tale of the early years of an international idol. “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. This is the book, Smith says, “for any Elvis lover who wants to know more about what made Presley the man he was and the mama's boy he became.” 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.”

You are invited to take a journey, along with the author, to her hometown in the American South, a unique culture of relative safety within a sheltered small town in the mid-twentieth century. You will discover a time when sorority girls were virgins, baton twirlers mattered, and Elvis Presley's hips were the wildest thing on the block. Against the backdrop of groundbreaking musical environments from Memphis, Tennessee to the Mississippi Delta, you will share stories that follow Elvis and his rise to fame through the eyes of his Graceland neighbors in the small suburb of Whitehaven. The author's mother, a young girl who was as much a celebrity in this small town as Elvis, reveals never-before-shared photographs and stories that chronicle a town, an extraordinary man, and a time forever lost to history, each on the brink of explosion and change.

Put on your blue suede shoes and get ready for another addition to 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 black and- white illustrations on nearly every spread.

"I would have been duty-bound if I had recognized Elvis' alleged drug abuse." Robert C. Cantwell Elvis I knew was a superstar, authentic country gentleman and 'unprejudiced' that cherished being around those that regarded him as an ordinary person.