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Peter Guralnick

Born

in Boston, Massachusetts, The United States

December 15, 1943

Website

http://www.peterguralnick.com/

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PeterGuralnick

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Peter Guralnick is an American music critic, writer on music, and historian of US American popular music, who is also active as an author and screenwriter. He has been married for over 45 years to Alexandra. He has a son and daughter, Jacob and Nina.

Guralnick's first two books, Almost Grown (1964) and Mister Downchild (1967), were short story collections published by Larry Stark, whose small press in Cambridge, Larry Stark Press, was devoted to stories and poems. Mona Dickson, writing in MIT's The Tech (May 13, 1964) gave Almost Grown a favorable review.

After Guralnick graduated from Boston University in 1971 with a master's degree in creative writing, he began writing books chronicling the history of blues, country, rock and roll and soul. Peter Guralnick is an American music critic, writer on music, and historian of US American popular music, who is also active as an author and screenwriter. He has been married for over 45 years to Alexandra. He has a son and daughter, Jacob and Nina.

Guralnick's first two books, Almost Grown (1964) and Mister Downchild (1967), were short story collections published by Larry Stark, whose small press in Cambridge, Larry Stark Press, was devoted to stories and poems. Mona Dickson, writing in MIT's The Tech (May 13, 1964) gave Almost Grown a favorable review.

After Guralnick graduated from Boston University in 1971 with a master's degree in creative writing, he began writing books chronicling the history of blues, country, rock and roll and soul.

His two-volume biography of Elvis Presley, Last Train to Memphis in 1994, followed by Careless Love in 1999, placed the story of Presley's career into a rise and fall arc. Encompassing more than 1,300 pages (including 1,150 pages of text), the work countered earlier biographies such as Albert Goldman's Elvis from 1981 with an in-depth, scholarly examination of Presley's life and music. Guralnick had previously written on Presley in the The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll, starting with the first edition in 1976, said article having been reprinted for each subsequent edition.

Larry Stark Press published Peter Guralnick's second book in 1967. A first edition is currently valued at $200.

In contrast to contemporaries such as Lester Bangs, Ian Penman and Nick Tosches, whose music writings are marked by idiosyncratic, self-referential and highly personal styles, Guralnick's writing is characterized by a colloquial approach that is clean and understated by comparison. In his best passages, he has an ability to simultaneously empathize and remain objective. Writing as a music fan, his enthusiasm powers his writing but doesn't overpower it.

Guralnick wrote the script for A&E's documentary, Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll, narrated by Billy Bob Thornton, and he also scripted Sam Cooke - Legend, narrated by Jeffrey Wright. ...more

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Average rating: 4.18 · 20,520 ratings · 1,578 reviews · 37 distinct works • Similar authors

	Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley 4.14 avg rating — 8,721 ratings — published 1994 — 43 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley 4.36 avg rating — 3,935 ratings — published 1999 — 31 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom 4.24 avg rating — 2,277 ratings — published 1986 — 21 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke 4.06 avg rating — 980 ratings — published 2005 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll 3.99 avg rating — 953 ratings — published 2015 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lost Highway: Journeys and Arrivals of American Musicians 4.22 avg rating — 796 ratings — published 1979 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Searching for Robert Johnson 3.89 avg rating — 680 ratings — published 1989 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Feel Like Going Home 4.19 avg rating — 477 ratings — published 1971 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	It Came From Memphis by Peter Guralnick (Foreword), Robert Gordon 4.20 avg rating — 473 ratings — published 1995 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Looking to Get Lost: Adventures in Music and Writing 4.01 avg rating — 142 ratings — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Series by Peter Guralnick

Elvis (2 books)
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Peter Guralnick

4.21 avg rating — 12,654 ratings

Quotes by Peter Guralnick (?)

“He constructed a shell to hide his aloneness, and it hardened on his back. I know of no sadder story.”
― Peter Guralnick

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“Dr. Dick McCool, director of Electroconvulsive Therapy at Gartly-Ramsay,”
― Peter Guralnick, Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll

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“Which to me means that one must respect not just the story but the way in which it develops; judging the past by the standards of the present sheds little light on understanding, it represents no more than the I-told-you-sos of history.”
― Peter Guralnick, Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley

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Polls

September Reading

Flaubert's Parrot - Julian Barnes

7 votes, 29.2%

Lady Chatterley's Lover - D.H. Lawrence

6 votes, 25.0%

The 42nd Parallel - John Dos Passos

6 votes, 25.0%

Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom - Peter Guralnick

4 votes, 16.7%

Mr. Wilson's Cabinet Of Wonder: Pronged Ants, Horned Humans, Mice on Toast, and Other Marvels of Jurassic Technology - Lawrence Weschler

1 vote, 4.2%

24 total votes

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