Released a few months back the German edition of Marc Hendrickx book “Elvis A. Presley - Muziek, Mens, Mythe” (“Elvis A. Presley - Musique et vie d'un mythe”) has been released by Hannibal Verlag. This book was previously available in Dutch and French. Marc is also author of the book “Elvis Presley, Richard Nixon and the American Dream,” which he co-wrote with Connie Kirchberg and involved with several Belgian (Special) Elvis releases by BMG.
Design
We already knew the previous editions of this book, both the deluxe and the standard edition. We can only describe this book as a “bible” with 620 pages of Elvis. This edition contains a great picture from fan photographer Keith Alverson.
The format of the book is A4, with the text in two columns on good quality paper. Between the texts we find a lot of black and white images and quite a few color ones. All chapters are presented in the same style throughout the entire book.
Content
Where do we start? The beginning is probably the best place; the book covers all the years from 1935 to 2002. Each year is described (like day-by-day, but more as a story) with matching images, pictures (both known and unknown), newspaper clippings and some memorabilia.
Each chapter contains an overview of “the Elvis Industry” with sales, worldwide chart results and other details on the singles, EPs, albums and movies. A chapter ends with a year overview in which we get an idea of the publics view on Elvis and his popularity in a certain year.
There is too much information to list, but it is good that there is a good overview of the years after his untimely death. Unfortunately the last 10 year don’t have many illustrations.
Comparing this edition with its predecessors there are only a few minor differences in the lay out, the design is a little more modern. Some of the images moved a little in the text, and the images in this new edition are a bit darker, but that is probably due to the use of a different kind of paper.
Conclusion
This is the kind of book that will keep you reading for a long time, and gives you a lot of facts on the Music, the Man and the Myth Elvis Presley. This book is an essential read, if only it would be available in English so not only the Dutch, French and German speaking fans were lucky to be able to read it.
Elvis A. Presley - Die Musik, Der Mensch, Der Mythos
February 02, 2004 | Book
TCB fan wrote on
February 03, 2004
Truely the best book that's ever writen about Elvis Presley. If you don't have this book you should buy it now! It's a complete library about the king. Information, about his life, quote's from people who where there, books and albums that came out etc.