Last Train to Memphis
The Rise of Elvis Presley - 'The richest portrait of Presley we have ever had' Sunday Telegraph
Published on 23. April 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
576 pages
978-1-3996-4146-3 (ISBN)
Description
The first volume of Peter Guralnick's critically acclaimed Elvis Presley biographies
'Elvis steps from the pages. You can feel him breathe' BOB DYLAN
'Wonderful' RODDY DOYLE
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
'Elvis steps from the pages. You can feel him breathe' BOB DYLAN
'Wonderful' RODDY DOYLE
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
Reviews / Votes
Unrivalled... Elvis steps from the pages. You can feel him breathe. This book cancels out all others * Bob Dylan * A wonderful book... Guralnick gives us an Elvis of real flesh and blood... the richest and most detailed portrait of Presley we have ever had * Sunday Telegraph * Wonderful... Guralnick deserves to live in Graceland * Roddy Doyle * The adjective 'definitive' seems almost inadequate * Daily Telegraph * A triumph of biographical art... profound and moving... Even the minor revelations are positively spellbinding... Guralnick's narrative is rendered with an intimate, restrained intensity eerily reminiscent of the plaintive tone of Presley's ballads, that tremulous yearning of America itself * New York Times Book Review * Soars above all other books-for-bucks accounts of Elvis... Excellent * Guardian * The writer's decades of research leap off the page. A classic * Time Out * The first definitive work on Presley's life * Irish Times * Altogether splendid... It is the particular and spectacular achievement of Last Train to Memphis that it holds both the making of the history and the beginning of the myth in firm, simple and compassionate focus... Guralnick paints this world with perspective, respect and great decency; it is one of the book's triumphs * Time * Guralnick takes a sensible and sensitive approach, tracing the roots of an American dream... Guralnick perfectly captures Elvis's mixture of naivety and shrewdness... A serious, musically literate and historically attuned biography. An American epic that belongs on every bookshelf * Kirkus * It's hard to reclaim Elvis from the weight of history and slander, but Guralnick does it beautifully... [He] tells this 20th century myth with a fine regard for his subject's humanity * Mojo * A wonderful book...Guralnick gives us an Elvis of real flesh and blood...the richest and most detailed protrait of Presely we have ever had. * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH * Unrivalled...Elvis steps out of these pages, you can feel him breathe, this book cancels out all others - BOB DYLAN * Wonderful...Guralnick deserves to live in Graceland - RODDY DOYLE *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Orion Publishing Co
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Illustrations
Integrated: 16, Integrated
Dimensions
Height: 196 mm
Width: 130 mm
Thickness: 38 mm
Weight
420 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-3996-4146-3 (9781399641463)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Previous edition
Peter Guralnick
Last Train to Memphis
The Rise of Elvis Presley - 'The richest portrait of Presley we have ever had' Sunday Telegraph
Book
11/1995
Abacus
€38.56
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Persons
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.