Journalist Tracy takes a remarkably even-handed approach in this narrative of what happened to the kid from Tupelo, Mississippi who seemed to drop in from another planet in 1956. She details the deals with Colonel Tom Parker, which Presley entered into largely out of fear over what Parker would do with salacious recordings, the familial relationships, the concerts, the tours, the awards, the movies, the hits, the flops, the gluttony and the wretched stumbling to the pharmacy and back. Although intended for the general readership, Tracy is honest about what killed Presley and why, showing how his fears of exposure of youthful indiscretions and basic insecurity as a performer and a person combined with the liberality of the time.
