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List Price: $7.99 | | Publisher: Signet
Salesrank: 847366
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| Used Price: $0.25 |
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| Media: Paperback |
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Editorial Review:
This intimate portrait of Elvis Presley, America's favorite music idol, chronicles his remarkable life from a dirt-poor schoolboy in Memphis through his rise as a Rock n' Roll superstar to his final days in Las Vegas. Drawing on exclusive interviews with Elvis's closest friends and new documentary evidence, this biography reveals secrets about his relationships with his addictive mother Gladys, his ruthless manager Colonel Tom Parker, his musical rivals The Beatles, and the truth behind his marriage to Priscilla Beaulieu. Featuring a complete discography and filmography as well as sixteen pages of photographs--some never before published--Down at the End of Lonely Street cuts through the lies and the legends to present the real Elvis Presley, a man who was troubled, talented, and unfailingly human.
Peter Harry Brown and Pat H. Broeske are also the authors of the national bestseller Howard Hughes: The Untold Story Peter Harry Brown is also the author of the New York Times bestseller Marilyn: The Last Take The authors have conducted over 300 interviews with Elvis' friends and family Down at the End of Lonely Street paints a sympathetic and vivid portrayal of Elvis Presley, and in the first complete biography of his life
Down at the End of Lonely Street: The Life and Death of Elvis Presley Reviews:
A GOOD STARTER FOR NEW FANS! 
2008-09-18 - I have read many many books on Elvis. I picked this book up and was impressed with all the information on Elvis from good to bad. If you are new to world of Elvis, first off congrats, this book is a great starter. It talks about every part of his life but never gets real deep into one subject.
For example, the author speaks about Elvis's relationship with Kathy Westmorland, one of his back up singers. If you find this interesting, you can pick up her book to learn more. You will read a lot on Pricilla, and if that interest you, you can pick up her book.
Just read it and mark the pages that interest you or that you might have more questions about. Then look up more indepth books on that certain topic. There are books from the 50's to Vegas, to his Army days, to the days hanging out with his buddies. It just depends on what part of his life you like the best. There is not ONE book that puts all the many 300 books of Elvis into one.
There is so much about the guy and I will warn you now, once you think you have a question answered about Elvis in your head another one will pop up. Elvis was a star, a person, a friend, husband, dad, spirtual person (and there are books on this topic), he was so many things that it is hard to completley say, what he was actually like.
Compared to say, Sinatra, who after reading two books, you understand the man, why he was the way he was, you could predict his views, actions in his life but with Elvis every year was different, every topic/situation was never what you thought it would turn out to be. You have so many outside distractions, from the colonel to his friends, his past views/emotions, his world around him and his drug use that no one could predict the way he would react to any situation. He was a complex person that is hard to understand.
As you read more and more about the man, you try to put yourself in his shoes and see if you would be the same way. One thing that does hold true for many rock stars, is the day they get big or make it, is the age they stay at and this book mention this. So think of Elvis as always being 21, what were you like? Up all night, finding the next high, friends were at the top of your list, money could always be found tomorrow and you never trusted one person one day but maybe the next day. People told you things and you never knew if you should believe them, and even when they were right, they might be wrong tomorrow. So keep this in mind when you are trying to figure out the man.
One book I have yet to see and hope someone will do, is on his father. He was the closest family member, he was his dad and yet the relationship was there one day and gone the next. How did Vernon feel about Elvis's passing, what did he do for 2 years after 1977? My personal view, is here is a guy sitting in Graceland in 1978, losing money and wondering how can he make money, and the entire time he is literally sitting on a goldmine, even Pricilla figured that out.
Good luck to all the new fans, I can tell you after reading close to a hundred books of the man. Keep in mind that some stories are true some are not. Personally I feel each person from family members to close friends, truely loved the man.
Vernon (Elvis dad) has been heard saying that the night Elvis was born a blue light shined over the house, true or not, it is the same feeling we all get when we first discovert the King of ROCK N ROLL.
Sidenote: I have written many authors and family members, the only one that wrote me back twice was Billy Smith Elvis Cousin, a great person who was impressed with my knowledge and the only person who I think feels truely bad and sad for losing a family member. THANKS BILLY!
The Partially True Story
2007-08-17 - Those looking for an intensive, in-depth analysis of his Music are in for a disappointment. This book is about the Life and Times of a musical legend, not his songs, or his accomplishments! The man was not a God and people need to get over that fact. If you're looking for a hero-worshipping book, don't buy this one.
Great Book 
2002-02-18 - I picked this book of just to have something to read and it floored me. The book gives you ALL of Elvis's life and not just the sanitized versiion. I would highly recommend it to anyone seeking the TRUTH about Elvis. From his greatest moments to his lowest.
Routine 
2001-09-25 - If Peter Guralnick's mammoth two volume biography didn't exist, this book might serve more of a purpose. But compared to the Guralnick books this is downright flimsy. There is excruciatingly little new here though there are a few early anecdotes and some interesting interviews with marginal players in the Presley story like co-stars Deborah Walley and Mary Ann Mobley who don't get interviewed in connection with Presley very often. There is also extensive interview time spent with the infamous Dr. Nick. Otherwise the book seems like a collection od press clippings that have been trotted out dozens of times before. To make things worse, it seems that in the photo sections the authors deliberately went out of their way to find the most familiar pictures available.
You would think that there wouldn't be anything new to write about Elvis but the Guralnick books were filled with revelations. He didn't stop at the familiar and wound up turning up dozens of forgotten gems just from information that had been in the public domain but had never been gathered in a contemporary work about the king.
This book has other problems besides familiarity. Elvis' music gets glossed over. For example Elvis' 1969 memphis sessions, that produced From Elvis in Memphis and "Suspicious Minds" perhaps the artistic height of his career, get a page and a half. While the authors have an appreciation for Presley's achievement they don't always appear to have the greatest understanding of it. Reading authors like Guralnick, Dave Marsh, Greil Marcus and even Ernst Jorgenson you can feel and hear the music as you read. In their descriptions the music sets off a universe of ideas. That's not the case here. There is a discography, a filmography and a list of Elvis' TV appearances in the back but these have been done better (sometimes in entire books)many times before. In fact, the discography, because of its arbitrary selections and factual errors, is useless.
So, unless you have to read every single word that has ever been written about Elvis you can miss this one.
Well researched but not the best 
2001-08-14 - A lot of work went into this book, but it lacks objectivity. It is pro-Elvis, though not excessively so, but it seems entirely too kind to Dr. Nick and Priscilla.
Dr. Nick no doubt curbed Elvis's overall drug consumption and minimized the careless peaks that would have occurred had he not been present. However, Dr. Nick was still party to the drug excess. It is difficult not to believe that his interest was primarily money at the expense of caring for Elvis. Despite receiving a hefty income, he found it necessary to borrow $200,000 from his very volatile patient. And then there was the racquetball misadventure resulting in legal estrangement. Still, I received a better appreciation for Dr. Nick's effort by reading this book. He did have a daunting task.
As regards Priscilla, the authors seem to have bought the image she has been trying to project. Finstadt's book on Priscilla presents a more plausible picture.
