Rethinking Elvis

The academics here do not rethink Elvis Presley so much as re-place him: the view from Denmark and Cold War Europe meeting today's Tennessee Presley, where 'Are You Lonesome' is sung in the dark for tourists in Nashville's Studio B and Memphis cops brutally repress a Black Lives Matter protest in front of Graceland. Greil Marcus's Mystery Train listed Elvis variants as an act of prose wizardry. This Bubba Ho-Tep-worthy book of 'unproductions' catalogs a Presley multiverse, with movies never made, stories half-attributed, and identities barely glimpsed. * Eric Weisbard, Author of Hound Dog *
Rethinking Elvis gives us a distinctly 21st-century version of Elvis, filtered through the lens of contemporary racial justice movements and the ongoing globalization of popular music. Highly readable, Rethinking Elvis takes Elvis fans as seriously as the artist himself and strikes a perfect balance between Elvis-as-myth and Elvis as all-too-human. An essential volume on an enduring icon. * Steve Waksman, Author of Live Music in America: A History from Jenny Lind to Beyoncé *
This insightful anthology provides multiple ways to rethink Elvis. Its essays offer novel ways to explore an icon through a wealth of disciplinary perspectives. Most important, by finally taking Elvis seriously as a site of academic analysis, they are a call to action for scholars that is long overdue. * Norma Coates, Associate Professor of Music, University of Western Ontario *
If T. Rex is the king of dinosaurs, then E. Rex is the king of popular music icons. Rethinking Elvis is a Jurassic Park-like educational journey into the newest Presley-focused scholarship. Mark Duffett and his talented team of pop culture paleontologists unearth several vital new perspectives on American rock 'n' roll's most influential singer and the world's most underappreciated celebrity. * B. Lee Cooper, Author of Audio Euphoria *