Read complete books and articles on: Elvis Presley

Presley, Elvis - 1935–77, American popular singer, b. Tupelo, Miss. Exposed to gospel music from childhood, Presley began playing guitar before his adolescence. He first recorded in 1953, became a national sensation by 1956, and dominated rock music until 1963. Presley sang successfully in three popular idioms: country and western, rock 'n' roll, and rhythm and blues. Although he had a

9 of the Best Books and Articles on: Elvis Presley

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

In Search of Elvis: Music, Race, Art, Religion » Read Now
by Vernon Chadwick. 328 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library

Bringing together the best and brightest essays, artwork and photography from the International Conference on Elvis, this book covers topics including Elvis as redneck, Elvis' religious roots and Elvis' multi-cultural audiences.
2.

Rock and Roll: A Social History (Discussion of Elvis Presley begins on p. 42) » Read Now
by Paul Friedlander. 368 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library
3.

Rhythm and Noise: An Aesthetics of Rock (Includes discussion of Elvis Presley in multiple chapters) » Read Now
by Theodore Gracyk. 306 pgs.

Collections: Philosophy, Entire Library

A happy marriage of aesthetic theory and the aesthetic practice that moved a generation, 'Rhythm and Noise' is the only thorough-going account of rock as a distinct artistic medium rather than a species of popular culture.
4.

Jazz and Pop, Youth and Middle Age like Young ("Elvis Presley's Double Consciousness" begins on p. 246) » Read Now
by Francis Davis. 348 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

Modern jazz and rock 'n' roll, both of which were once identified with youthful insurrection, have reached middle age. So have many longtime listeners -- including Francis Davis. Now, in these thirty-one articles, the revered jazz critic considers music young and old, examining performers from Frank...
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Modern jazz and rock 'n' roll, both of which were once identified with youthful insurrection, have reached middle age. So have many longtime listeners -- including Francis Davis. Now, in these thirty-one articles, the revered jazz critic considers music young and old, examining performers from Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday to Ornette Coleman and Sun Ra. But what makes this Davis's most surprising book is the inclusion of such pop icons as Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Burt Bacharach, and Lou Reed. Using himself as an example, Davis pinpoints our collective longing for a time when we (and our music) were younger -- and more inclined to take risks. Lively, opinionated, gracefully written, and often very funny, Like Young is a book for those who have long savored Davis's writing, as well as for those just now discovering him.
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5.

Colored White: Transcending the Racial Past ("An Elvis Retrospective" begins on p. 214) » Read Now
by David R. Roediger. 323 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

"In this splendid book, David Roediger shows the need for political activism aimed at transforming the social and political meaning of race. . . . No other writer on whiteness can match Roediger's historical breadth and depth: his grasp of the formative role played by race in the making of the...
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"In this splendid book, David Roediger shows the need for political activism aimed at transforming the social and political meaning of race. . . . No other writer on whiteness can match Roediger's historical breadth and depth: his grasp of the formative role played by race in the making of the nineteenth century working class, in defining the contours of twentieth-century U.S. citizenship and social membership, and in shaping the meaning of emerging social identities and cultural practices in the twenty-first century."--George Lipsitz, author of "The Possessive Investment in Whiteness"
"David Roediger has been showing us all for years how whiteness is a marked and not a neutral color in the history of the United States. "Colored White, "with its synthetic sweep and new historical investigations, marks yet another advance. In the burgeoning literature on whiteness, this book stands out for its lucid, unjargonridden, lively prose, its groundedness, its analytic clarity, and its scope."--Michael Rogin, author of "Blackface, White Noise"
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6.

The Sound of Light: A History of Gospel Music (Chap. 17 "Elvis and Gospel") » Read Now
by Don Cusic. 267 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library

Don Cusic presents gospel music as part of the history of contemporary Christianity. From the psalms of the early Puritans through the hymns of Isaac Watts and the social activism of the Wesleys, gospel music was established in eighteenth-century America. With the camp meetings songs of the Kentucky...
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Don Cusic presents gospel music as part of the history of contemporary Christianity. From the psalms of the early Puritans through the hymns of Isaac Watts and the social activism of the Wesleys, gospel music was established in eighteenth-century America. With the camp meetings songs of the Kentucky Revival and the spirituals and hymns that stemmed from the Civil War and beyond, gospel music grew through the nineteenth century and expanded through new technologies in the twentieth century.
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7.

Bit Parts: Dismembering Elvis in Recent Hollywood Films, in Film Criticism » Read Now
by Thomas C. Carlson. 13 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library
8.

Practicing Religion in the Age of the Media: Explorations in Media, Religion, and Culture (Chap. 3 "Believing in Elvis: Popular Piety in Material Culture") » Read Now
by Stewart M. Hoover, Lynn Schofield Clark. 386 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library

Increasingly, the religious practices people engage in and the ways they talk about what is meaningful or sacred take place in the context of media culture -- in the realm of the so-called secular. Focusing on this intersection of the sacred and the secular, this volume gathers together the work...
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Increasingly, the religious practices people engage in and the ways they talk about what is meaningful or sacred take place in the context of media culture -- in the realm of the so-called secular. Focusing on this intersection of the sacred and the secular, this volume gathers together the work of media experts, religious historians, sociologists of religion, and authorities on American studies and art history. Topics range from Islam on the Internet to the quasi-religious practices of Elvis fans, from the uses of popular culture by the Salvation Army in its early years to the uses of interactive media technologies at the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Beit Hashoah Museum of Tolerance. The issues that the essays address include the public/private divide, the distinctions between the sacred and profane, and how to distinguish between the practices that may be termed "religious" and those that may not.
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9.

The Evolution of Elvis Presley Enterprises, in Business Perspectives » Read Now
by Jean N. Honey. 7 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library