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Last Train to Memphis

The Rise of Elvis Presley - 'The richest portrait of Presley we have ever had' Sunday Telegraph
By Peter Guralnick
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Brief Description
'Elvis steps from the pages. You can feel him breathe' BOB DYLAN'Wonderful' RODDY DOYLEThe first volume of Peter Guralnick's critically acclaimed Elvis Presley biographiesLast Train to Memphis is arguably the first serious biography that refuses to dwell on the myth of Elvis. Aiming instead to portray... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2999
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Newly re-issued under the White Rabbit imprint comes the first of three volumes that make up the definitive Elvis Presley biography

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'Elvis steps from the pages. You can feel him breathe' BOB DYLAN

'Wonderful' RODDY DOYLE

The first volume of Peter Guralnick's critically acclaimed Elvis Presley biographies

Last Train to Memphis is arguably the first serious biography that refuses to dwell on the myth of Elvis. Aiming instead to portray in vivid, dramatic terms the life and career of this outstanding artistic and cultural phenomenon, it draws together a plethora of documentary and interview material to create a superbly coherent and plausible narrative.

This is the first of three volumes from music critic and author, Peter Guralnick, and covers Presley's stratospheric rise to stardom up to his departure for Germany in 1958. Last Train to Memphis is undoubtedly the benchmark by which other biographies of Elvis are judged.

'Soars above all other accounts of Elvis' Guardian

'A triumph of biographical art... profound and moving' New York Times

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781399641463

Publisher: Orion Publishing Co

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 23 April 2026

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: White Rabbit

Illustration: Integrated: 16, Integrated

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 592

Collections

Arts & Culture Biography & Memoir Music & Musicians Musicians, Movie Stars & Creative Biographies Non-Fiction Peter Guralnick

About the Author

Peter Guralnick's books include the prize-winning two-volume biography of Elvis Presley, Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love; an acclaimed trilogy on American roots music, Feel Like Going Home, Lost Highway, and Sweet Soul Music; the biographical inquiry Searching for Robert Johnson; and Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke. Guralnick won a Grammy for his liner notes for Sam Cooke Live at the Harlem Square Club, wrote and co-produced the documentary Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll, and wrote the scripts for the Grammy-winning documentary Sam Cooke/Legend and Martin Scorsese's blues documentary Feel Like Going Home. His 2015 book Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll was a finalist for the Plutarch Award for Best Biography of the Year, awarded by the Biographers International Organization. His most recent book is Looking to Get Lost: Adventures in Music and Writing.

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  • The Colonel and the King
    In early 1955, Colonel Tom Parker, the manager of the number-one country music star of the day, heard that an unknown teenager from Memphis had just drawn a crowd of more than 800 people to a Texas schoolhouse and headed south to investigate. Within a matter of days, Parker was sending out telegrams and letters to promoters and booking agents:...
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  • The Colonel and the King
    INCLUDED IN TIME'S 100 MUST READ BOOKS OF 2025'Guralnick knows the intricacies of this story more than anyone, except perhaps the Colonel and Presley themselves'GUARDIANThe concluding volume of Peter Guralnick's critically acclaimed Elvis Presley biographiesIn early 1955, Colonel Tom Parker discovered a teenage Elvis Presley and declared him destined for greatness. What followed was one of the most extraordinary partnerships...
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    Homeric in its play of beauty and folly, this is a monumental work INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY Riveting ... A masterwork WALL STREET JOURNAL The second volume of Peter Guralnick's critically acclaimed Elvis Presley biographies. The next chapter in the definitive biography of Elvis picks up where Last Train to Memphis closed with Presley's military service in Germany in 1958 and...
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  • Feel Like Going Home
    Feel Like Going Home vividly brings to life such early blues masters as Muddy Waters, Skip James, and Howlin' Wolf, along with illuminating excursions into the blues-based rock 'n' roll of Jerry Lee Lewis, Charlie Rich, and the Sun Records label. With unique insight and unparalleled access, celebrated author Peter Guralnick (Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley)...
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  • The Birth of Rock 'n' Roll
    A fascinating look at the history of Sun Records, the label that started Rock ‘n’ Roll, told through 70 of its iconic recordings. In Memphis, Tennessee, in the 1950s, there was hard-edged blues playing on Beale Street, and hillbilly boogie on the outskirts of town. But at Sam Phillips’ Sun Records studio on Union Avenue, there was something different going...
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  • Careless Love
    Last Train to Memphis, the first part of Guralnick's two-volume life of Elvis Presley, received unprecedented accolades. This concluding volume recounts the second half of Elvis's 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...
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    This is the first volume of a two-volume biography of Elvis Presley, a book that justifies the importance of The King to American music and culture. It covers Presley's rise up to his mother's death in 1958. The Presley displayed is bright, articulate, energetic—a young man in a hurry with a very real sense of himself and his art, a...
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