Elvis Presley and the Politics of Popular Memory

The mainstream media, unprepared for the passionate and ubiquitous response that Presley's passing engendered, resorted to repeating by rote the distinctive American tale of an anonymous truck driver whose unrestrained performance style and meteoric rise to fame flustered the less than frenzied fifties. An assessment of this process, especially as it pertains to minority perspectives on Presley, promises to provide insight into the appeal of myths, conspiracy theories, urban legends, rumors, and other unofficial or unsanctioned means employed to ascertain truth.