Elvis Presley The Man. The Life. The Legend.

(Pamela Clarke Keogh, Atria Books, 2004, Hardcover, 264 pages, ISBN: 0-7434-5603-3)

This book comes hyped that it was done with full cooperation of EPE; that the author had full cooperation from the estate and Priscilla Presley; that she had full access to the archives; and that it contains many never before seen Elvis photos. Our mini-preview: Don't bother buying this book. Or even more "mini": Never mind We met Ms. Keogh at her book signing at Davis-Kidd Booksellers here last Tuesday evening. She's a very likeable person.

Great personality. Smiles a lot. But none of these traits are necessary in writing a good book. She said her targeted audience is those young people who don't know a lot about Elvis Presley and she wants to inform them of his Life and his contributions to the music world and the world in general.

And then she completely leaves out Elvis' first public appearance ever, Elvis singing "Ol' Shep" at the Tupelo Fair in 1945. And she devotes a whole chapter on how Elvis went around everywhere talking aloud to his dead twin, Jesse Garon (something all the Memphis Mafia guys we've questioned on this since the Kurt Russell movie in 1979 and they've all said, over the years, not one can remember Elvis ever talking aloud to Jesse Garon and he rarely even mentioned JG in conversations).

When asked who she talked to as her source on Elvis incessantly talking to JG, she honestly said: "I didn't talk to anyone. I am a twin and I know how twins are." Excuse me ... !

As for the rare, never before printed photos, if you've been reading EW for at least the last 10 years, and bought say half of our books, or Susan Doll's books via EW .. .. .. you've seen a good 80% of these never before printed photos at least once already; sometimes more. And those that are rare are more or less candid snapshots.

As one insider told us after viewing the book: "My god, you'd think if she had full access to EPE's photo archives, as many thousands of photos as they have in there, she could have selected more rare ones than these."

It's retailing for $35 -- and much as EW needs some new book titles to sell, we won't be offering this book to EW readers, even at discounted prices. Not worth your time or money.

(Book review, 20 Sep 2004, Source: Bill E. Burk)

About Bill E. Burk: Bill E. Burk is a respected Memphis based journalist and author of numerous books about Elvis. Bill and his wife Connie publish the quarterly magazine, Elvis World