Inventing Elvis - An American Icon in a Cold War World

Elvis Presley stands tall as perhaps the supreme icon of 20th-century U.S. culture. But he was perceived to be deeply un-American in his early years as his controversial adaptation of rhythm and blues music and gyrating on-stage performances sent shockwaves through Eisenhower-s conservative America and far beyond. This book explores Elvis Presley-s global transformation from a teenage rebel figure into one of the U.S.-s major pop-cultural embodiments from a historical perspective. It shows how Elvis-s rise was part of an emerging transnational youth culture whose political impact was heavily conditioned by the Cold War. As well as this, the book analyses Elvis-s stint as G.I. soldier in West Germany, where he acted as an informal ambassador for the so-called American way of life and was turned into a deeply patriotic figure almost overnight. Yet, it also suggests that Elvis-s increasingly synonymous identity with U.S. culture ultimately proved to be a double-edged sword, as the excesse