Fortunate Son The Life of Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley was celebrity's perfect storm. His sole but substantial contribution was talent, a fact Charles L. Ponce de Leon is careful to demonstrate throughout his wonderfully contextualFortunate Son.Even as the moments of lucidity necessary to exercise that talent grew rarer and rarer, Elvis proved his musical gifts right up to the end of his life. Beyond that, however, he was fortune's child.Fortunate Sonsuccinctly traces out the larger shifts that repeatedly redefined the cultural landscape during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, using Elvis's life to present a brief history of American popular culture during these tumultuous decades. Charles L. Ponce de Leonteaches history at the State University of New York, Purchase, and is the author ofSelf-Exposure: The Emergence of Celebrity inAmerica,18901940. Days before his death, Elvis Presley saw a chance to earn the U.S. Marshall's badge President Nixon had given him back in 1970 in the Oval Office, where, in his bejeweled leisure suit, the drug-addicted Elvis had sworn himself to law and order. Spying a fight breaking out between two men and a gas station attendant, an overweight Elvis did his best to leap out of his limo and strike a karate pose. He was met with stunned belief and requests for autographs; when his police escort finally arrived, it was in hope of a photo with the King. In the 1950s, Elvis was celebrity's perfect storm. Gifted, charismatic, and telegenic, he was a rebel rooted in conservative Southern working-class morals. By the late 1960s, the storm had largely passed. A surging popular culture had upended those morals, and what had once seemed rebellious looked more and more reactionary. Far from daring and racy, Elvis's movies seemed treacle; rather than trendsetting, his musical talent seemed better suited for well-worn country ballads. Charles L. Ponce de Leon'sFortunate Sonplaces Elvis's life within the larger shifts that redefined the cultural landscape during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, discovering in the mounting ironies of Elvis's waning success the seeds of mythology we know today. "Charles Ponce de Leon manages in this concise, probing, and extremely readable book on Elvis to accomplish what all historical biographers aspire to: to illuminate the man, the times, and the important relationship between the two."Lizabeth Cohen, author ofA Consumers' Republic:The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America "Charles Ponce de Leon manages in this concise, probing, and extremely readable book on Elvis to accomplish what all historical biographers aspire to: to illuminate the man, the times, and the important relationship between the two. The reader is as fortunate as Elvis."Lizabeth Cohen, author ofA Consumers' Republic:The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America "This smart and engaging biography is the first to understand Elvis as a key figure in the history of recent America. Instead of an icon, both worshipped and mocked, Ponce de Leon reveals a man pulled under by the same celebrity culture that had made him."Michael Kazin, author ofA Godly Hero:The Life of William Jennings Bryan "A vivid retelling of the Elvis saga, and a deft assessment of its meanings. Ponce de Leon puts all the major themes in playrace, region, class, religion, politics, artistryand shows how Elvis illuminates the tragic unfolding of celebrity in modern America. Cultural history at its most riveting."Richard Wightman Fox, author ofJesus in America:Personal Savior,Cultural Hero,National Obsession

Charles L. Ponce de Leon teaches history at the State University of New York, Purchase, and is the author of Self-Exposure: The Emergence of Celebrity in America, 1890–1940.