Elvis and Gladys. By Elaine Dundy. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2004. 352 pages. $20.00 paper.

In her celebrated biography of young Elvis Aron Presley, Elaine Dundy claims that the King of Rock 'n' Roll, like his mother Gladys, "took things hard." When his father, Vernon, was convicted and sent to prison for forging a check in Tupelo, Mississippi, three-year-old Elvis was distraught. Dundy writes in Elvis and Gladys "reports of seeing him daily 'bawling so hard he couldn't catch his breath' are very likely accurate."

Throughout the biography, called "the most fine-grained Elvis bio ever" by Kirkus Reviews, Dundy notes that Presley's love for his mother and his resiliency pulled mother and son through difficult times. "It seemed to him both in his mind and in his heart that their survival was wholly dependent on his taking charge of the situation," Dundy writes.

Elvis and Gladys, one of the best researched and most acclaimed books on Presley's early life, reconstructs the extraordinary role Gladys played in her son's formative years. Uncovering facts not seen by other biographers, Elvis and Gladys reconstructs for the first time the history of the mother and son's devoted relationship and reveals new information about Presley--his Cherokee ancestry, his boyhood obsession with comic books, and his early compulsion to rescue his family from poverty.

"For once, a legend is presented to us by the mind and heart of a literate, careful biographer who cares," wrote Liz Smith in the New York Daily News when Elvis and Gladys was originally published in 1985. This is the book, Smith wrote, "for any Elvis lover who wants to know more about what made Presley the man he was and the mama's boy he became." And the Boston Globe called this thoughtful, informative biography of one of popular music's most enduring stars "nothing less than the best Elvis book yet."

Dundy notes that Presley's love and care for his mother became his guideposts. "Out of the emotions this engendered in Elvis's heart came that quality of feeling that was to serve him for the rest of his life." She brings to life in this compelling narrative the poignant story of a unique boy and the maternal tie that bound him. It is at once an intimate psychological portrait of a tragic relationship and mesmerizing tale of the early years of an international idol.

Elaine Dundy is the author of novels, biographies, and popular histories, including The Dud Avocado; Finch, Bloody Finch; Ferriday, Louisiana; and the memoir Life Itself!

Steve Yates