Elvis Religion: The Cult of The King

Front Cover
Bloomsbury Academic, May 26, 2006 - Biography & Autobiography - 200 pages
From Graceland to Las Vegas, from fans to impersonators, from novels, films and popular music to internet websites, outsider art and tabloid conspiracy theories, the cult of Elvis Presley has, since his death, become ever more imaginative. "Elvis Religion" explores the frequently bizarre and weird phenomena growing out of this world and investigates what it is that has turned the King of Rock 'n' Roll into a god-like figure. He is not just an icon for late night lonely hearts in Memphis, but is the inspiration behind the violent visions of movies like "Mystery Train" and "Wild at Heart", the music of Kirsty MacColl and Paul Simon, and the internet church for whom he is a supernatural being who dwells in the constellation of Orion. Gregory L Reece makes a journey to discover the Jumpsuit Jesus for himself, which takes him into the heart of fan obsession. Along the way, he discovers that if Elvis Saves it is because now, more than ever, the Memphis Messiah seems like a prophet for our times.

About the author (2006)

Greg Reece is an independent scholar and writer living in Montevallo, Alabama. He is the bestselling author of Elvis Religion: The Cult of the King (I.B.Tauris, 2005) and is currently writing, for the same publisher, a third book entitled Weird Science and Bizarre Beliefs: Mysterious Creatures, Lost Worlds and Amazing Inventions, to be published in 2008.

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