"Before Elvis there was nothing."John Lennon

"It was like he came along and whispered some dream in everybody's ear,
and somehow we all dreamed it."Bruce Springsteen

"Her bottom line is that Elvis was cool, cooler than any other man of the
twentieth century."Booklist

It was that voice, those eyes, that hair, the cars, the girls. Elvis Presley
revolutionized American pop culture when, at age twenty-one, he became a
modern superstar. A Memphis Beau Brummel even before he found fame, Elvis
had a personal style that, like his music, had an immediate impact on his
audience that continues to influence us today.

"Elvis Presley is the greatest cultural force in the twentieth century," proclaimed
Leonard Bernstein. The author writes, "His appearance on Ed Sullivan ripped the
1950s in half." By any measure, Presley's life was remarkable. From his modest
beginnings in a two-room house to his meteoric rise to international fame,
everything about his life, from his outsized talent to his car collection, clamored
for attention. And he got it.

Keogh compellingly examines Elvis's life and style to reveal the generous, complex,
spiritual man behind the fourteen-karat-gold sunglasses and answers the question,
"Why does Elvis matter?"

Pamela Clarke Keogh is the author of the internationally best-selling biographies Audrey Style and Jackie Style. Educated at Vassar College, she lives in New York City and visits Memphis whenever she can.

Anna Fields has found her true home behind the microphone after beginning her career on the stage in Washington, D.C. She has garnered several AudioFile Earphones Awards and won the coveted Audie Award in 2004.