The inner Elvis

by Peter O. Whitmer

Peter Whitmer delves deep into Elvis's personality in a compelling psychological investigation, exposing the private pain and agony that kept him from becoming the man and performer he might have been. Beginning with the trauma of the loss of his twin brother, Jesse, at birth, psychologist Peter Whitmer shows how this unknown brother became a major presence that would haunt Elvis his entire life. The loss drove Elvis's mother, Gladys, to overprotect her surviving son, pushing him in ways that were at times monstrous and demeaning, yet undoubtedly turning him into the star he became. Whitmer explores how this relationship with his mother, termed "lethal enmeshment," prompted Elvis to later place his trust entirely in Colonel Tom Parker, his business manager - even to the detriment of his career. Whitmer demonstrates, with several never-before-seen interviews and many previously unpublished photographs, how Elvis's often strange sexuality and boundless promiscuity were derived from his e