Careless Love, Peter Guralnick
Careless Love, Peter Guralnick
9 Rating(s)
List: $49.99 | Sale: $35.00
Club: $24.99

Careless Love
The Unmaking of Elvis Presley

Author: Peter Guralnick

Narrator: Kevin Stillwell

Unabridged: 31 hr 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/01/2012


Synopsis

Hailed as "a masterwork" by the Wall Street Journal, Careless Loveis the full, true, and mesmerizing story of Elvis Presley's last two decades, in the long-awaited second volume of Peter Guralnick's masterful two-part biography.

Winner of the Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award

Last Train to Memphis, the first part of Guralnick's two-volume life of Elvis Presley, was acclaimed by the New York Times as "a triumph of biographical art." This concluding volume recounts the second half of Elvis' life in rich and previously unimagined detail, and confirms Guralnick's status as one of the great biographers of our time.

Beginning with Presley's army service in Germany in 1958 and ending with his death in Memphis in 1977, Careless Love chronicles the unravelling 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.

Elvis' changes during these years form a tragic mystery that Careless Love unlocks for the first time. This is the quintessential American story, encompassing elements of race, class, wealth, sex, music, religion, and personal transformation. Written with grace, sensitivity, and passion, Careless Love 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.

Reviews

this book is sad as fuck. i started out being a fan of the image elvis portrayed, the music that he brought into the world. then i made the mistake of wanting to get to know him as a person. after being thoroughly inspired by guralnick's first book, "last train to memphis," i delved almost immediate......more

Goodreads review by Ben

This massive two-part biography is one of the best books I've ever read. I would put it in a shortlist of the essential nonfiction books to read if you want to understand American culture. Elvis was always an awkward and lonely person that loved all kinds of music. But our rapidly shifting culture m......more

Goodreads review by Chad

Harrowing. That's the best word to describe this brilliant, scrupulously researched biography of the King of Rock and Roll and his descent into lunacy. I've read many rock and roll biographies, mostly to satiate my inexplicable fascination with music and tragedy, and there have been some gems, man:......more


Quotes

"Riveting...A masterwork."—Wall Street Journal

"Let's get a little loud...Peter Guralnick's two-volume life of Elvis Aron Presley, of which Careless Love is the second installment, is not simply the finest rock-and-roll biography ever written. It must be ranked among the most ambitious and crucial biographical undertakings yet devoted to a major American figure of the second half of the twentieth century."—Gaerald Marzorati, New York Times Book Review

"Nothing written about Elvis Presley comes close to the detail, authority, and uncondescending objectivity that Peter Guralnick has brought to his two-volume biography...Hypnotic."—Andy Seiler, USA Today