Decades after his passing, Elvis Presley remains one of popular music's greatest icons. He was among the most successful, influential, socially significant, and controversial performers of the twentieth century, with a celebrity so indelible that every recent American president has negotiated its orbit. While much of the coverage of Elvis' life concerns his personal history and musical ability, Rethinking Elvis pushes beyond the familiar to address Elvis' branding, historical and geographic reception, heritage, and fan phenomenon. Using Elvis' iconography as a point of departure, popular music scholars and historians contend with issues related to the performer's whiteness, Southern identity, and gender, among others, in turn offering myriad opportunities to pursue new approaches in the emergent field of Elvis studies.

In Rethinking Elvis, popular music scholars and historians look beyond Elvis' iconography to shine a light on the branding, historical and geographic reception, heritage, and fan phenomenon that sustain his legacy. By engaging with recent disciplinary shifts and ongoing conversations within the field, Rethinking Elvis pinpoints the many reasons for Elvis' continued influence on popular culture.

If T. Rex is the king of dinosaurs, then E. Rex is the king of popular music icons. Rethinking Elvis is a Jurassic Park-like educational journey into the newest Presley-focused scholarship. Mark Duffett and his talented team of pop culture paleontologists unearth several vital new perspectives on American rock 'n' roll's most influential singer and the world's most underappreciated celebrity.