Overview

• The Colonel and the King spans 624 pages and incorporates roughly 250 pages of annotated correspondence to substantiate its narrative.
• Guralnick draws on personal acquaintance with Parker from 1988 to 1997 to support a nuanced portrayal.
• New revelations confirm Parker was born Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk in Holland and sidestep myths about a West Virginia birth.
• The book argues logistical and medical regulations, not passport issues, dictated why Elvis never toured internationally.
• Critics praise Guralnick’s meticulous scholarship while debating the biography’s sympathetic tone and expansive length.