When Bobbie Ann Mason first heard Elvis Presley on the family radio, she recognized him as "one of us . . . a country person who spoke our language."

With a novelist's insight, Mason depicts the amazing life of the first rock-and-roll superstar, whose music shattered barriers and changed the boundaries of American culture. Elvis the charismatic, impassioned singer embraced the celebrity brought him by a host of hit records and movies. But Elvis the soft-spoken, working-class Southern youth could not be prepared for the unprecedented magnitude of his success - or for the fiery controversies he would arouse. His riveting story lies close to the heart of the American dream.

Written by fellow Southerner Mason (In Country; Clear Springs), this abbreviated biography suffers fromthe series' length limitation but makes up for it by hitting the significant points. Mason credits Elvis with inventing rock and youth culture and "[puncturing] the balloon of 1950s serenity and conformity." She posits that the result of his stint in the army "was to erase his rock-and-roll rebel image and turn him into a mainstream all-American boy next door," and that in 1969, after almost a decade spent making bad films, "he was genuinely invigorated by making good music again." It's when Mason offers her insight into Southern culture that the biography turns superficial, like her attempt to contextualize the bloated figure of the drug-addled singer's late years by noting that "in the deep-fried South, his shape was a familiar sight, typical of his age group." On the other hand, she does intrigue, stating that Elvis "was innocently authentic, but he craved the inauthentic, as country people, who are so close-uncomfortably close-to what is starkly real, often do." Unfortunately, Mason doesn't have the room to explain because she has to get back to zooming through the rest of Elvis's life before her space is up. As such, this intro to Elvis will be useful, but is still no substitute for Peter Guralnick's definitive two-volume biography (Last Train to Memphis, Careless Love), which Mason praises in her acknowledgments along with many other sources.

This isn't just another Presley bio, but one of the Penguin Lives, the series that pairs well-known authors and apt iconic subjects. Kentuckian novelist Mason (In Country [1985], Zigzagging down a Wild Trail [2001]), a regional compatriot of the King's, lends her voice to his oft-told tale. Concisely and eloquently, she chronicles Elvis' sad story: humble origins, 1954 breakthrough, adoption by "the Colonel" (manager Tom Parker), early TV appearances, army hitch, the death of his mother, marriage to Priscilla, Hollywood, 1968 "comeback," Las Vegas headliner, prescription drug abuse, meeting with Nixon, and death at 42 in 1977. There is nothing much here that Peter Guralnick in the definitive Last Train to Memphis (1994) and Careless Love (1999) and others haven't already exposed, but Mason's is a sympathetic inspection. She sees Elvis as overcome by the loss of his stillborn twin and battling the inferiority complex of the "white trash" southern outsider. Unlike the rock 'n' roll rebels whose way he paved, Elvis "rebelled against poverty, not affluence. He wanted acceptance, not alienation."

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Benjamin Segedin

Bobbie Ann Mason is the author of Shiloh and Other Stories, winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award; Feather Crowns, winner of the Southern Book Award and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; and the bestselling novel In Country(which was made into a film starring Bruce Willis). Her memoir, Clear Springs, was one of three finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. She has received two O. Henry awards and two Pushcart prizes for her short fiction in publications such as The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, and Harper's. Her most recent short story collection is Zigzagging Down a Wild Trail.

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