Best Selling Elvis Books

Quantity does not mean quality! Last Train to Memphis is number one as quality goes. If you could have only one book about Elvis, it should be Peter Guralnick's. It's said to think that more bought and read Goldman's garbage than Guralnick's masterpiece of musical history. Still, I'm happy it was in the Top 5.

It just goes to show clearly that people just love to read sensational garbage. The Top 4 are all crap. To me the best Elvis Book is ELVIS by Jerry Hopkins.

It does prove why we see so many reality t.v shows, and so much garbage music being put out today.. Guralnick's is the book people want if they want to get to know Elvis. I'm sorry, I no longer blame the media, or the producers or the writers. It's out society in general. I hope we wake up before it's too late.

Hands down, NO CONTEST, the 2 volumes written by Peter Guralnick, "Last Train To Memphis" and "Careless Love", are the BEST, and probably most accurate books written about ELVIS! They're the only 2 books you need to read. They should be in the Number 1 position. I have to agree with everyone else- it's too bad people like to read garbage.

Best selling does not mean: a good book! That research only shows that sadly, the majority of Elvis Fans are people with not culture at all, and that´s the reason of releases like 2nd to none, with such great songs as Rock-a-hula-baby, or Viva las Vegas, those are the great songs to show to the new generations what Elvis is about?, people like garbage, that´s why great proyects like "Reconsider Baby" released to show Elvis talent as a blues singer, or the great "Artis of the Century" box set, are rarely pursued, people won´t buy it. Top 10 Book about Elvis (without counting photographs and memorabilia books and encyclopedias) 1.- Last Train To Memphis. Peter Guralnik. 2.-Careless Love. Peter Guralnik. 3.-Private Elvis. Shröer- Hentshel-Knorr 4.-Elvis. Jerry Hopkins. 5.-Elvis. Dave Marsh. 6.-Aspects of Elvis. Alan Clayson & Spencer Leigh. 7.-Dead Elvis. Greil Marcus. 8.-Elvis The Last Word. Sandra Choron & Bob Oskam. 9.-That´s Alright Elvis. Scotty Moore. 10.- Elvis Word for Word. Jerry Osborne. Anyone who disagree with more than five titles from this list will be damned... Sincerely, Uncle Burroughs.

William, I don't think that you can blame it so much on the Elvis fans. I believe most of us will rather read the books on your list than Goldman etc. The problem with the trash books is that they sell to a wider range of people - people who are not fans and wouldn't buy a Guralnick or Hopkins book. The trash books are often better promoted - like Priscilla's book with a TV series and "Is Elvis Alive" that was on each and every talk show. Sadly trash is always better news than the straight facts. A fine list by the way! However, if you're into his recorded work, books like Ernst Jørgensen's "A Life In Music" are essential too.

I think Careless Love is undoubtedly an enjoyable read, but there are quite a few things which I've learnt from other interviews, that suggest a lot of may be inaccurate. Things like Tony Brown saying Elvis collapsed out the car, Joe Guercio saying ''he's f**ked up'' just to name a couple and both these guys strongly deny ever making these comments. Peter Guralnick's comments about Elvis and his Aloha show are proved to be nonsense when you watch the new DVD release, which was indeed a great performance. And I think the last concert tour was over in a couple of pages, a lot more could have gone into that. That all said, like I say, acccurate or not, its an excellent read and highly recommended.

I seem to remember that a chain store in the US placed what was at that time (1977) the largest book order in history for "Elvis What Happened". It was for 2.5 million copies. Goodness knows how many copies were sold by other US retailers but, global sales must have been staggering. I just wonder now how many copies the two titles placed above it on this list must have sold!

Hey Uncle Burroughs you failed to mention any book by Bill Burk. Bill Burk is the best author on Elvis and isnt just a writer he goes out and finds the stories and wrote several articles for the paper in Memphis about Elvis. He now publishes a magazine called Elvis World.

Tigerpawl OH so right when it comes to Bill Burkes books! Wonderful reads & you should have them all in your Elvis Libraries. I have over 300 books about or with Elvis in them. (tons more if you count my magazines! Thanks for all the imput this Elvis site does! Great Site!

what happened to one written by elvis secretary becky yancey . it was from the heart and she was there from the fifties till the seventies .

I find this topic very interesting too. I am curious first of all, how many books have been published about the subject of Elvis Presley since 1954 (?) I miss the days of Autumn in 1977 when I would stroll into most magazine or book stores and enjoy a feast of Elvis print material. Everyone on this discussion list could pick an agreeable list of their favorite Elvis books and magazines; one of my favorites was published by two English chaps in the U.K. in the early 1980s. The title I believe was; Elvis Presley, The Illustrated Record. One of the authors was Mr. Carr. His name was connected to the music industry too. Jerry Hopkins, the final years, was a book I read and re-read several times. I liked the format he used: presenting the Elvis story chronologically. Happy reading everyone.

The worst of the top five has to be Elvis by Albert Goldman. I can't recall anything positive about Elvis in that book.

I still have my first edition of Hopkins book. I devoured that as a teen. :) His Elvis in Hawaii is supposed to be pretty good. I also enjoyed Larry Geller's IF I CAN DREAM. I found ELVIS AARON PRESLEY the A Nash book with 3 of the Memphis Mafia fasinating, altho I will admit, I am doubtful of any accuracy in it. William, i love your list! right on!!

I also put the Guralnick books at the top of my list. i didnt care for priscilla's book. the first book about Elvis that I ever read was in 1964, called Operation Elvis. dont remember the author. i was in 8th grade and checked it out of the public library. anyone heard of it?