Graceland mansion, home to rock-and-roll phenomenon Elvis Presley for the twenty years preceding his 1977 death, became world-famous after it was opened to the public in 1981. Before the end of its first decade as a tourist attraction (or pilgrimage destination for some fans), Graceland had hosted more than one million tourists, and by the late 1990s it served as a symbol of both the indefatigable hope and immense costs of the American Dream.

Named after the first owner's aunt Grace, Graceland was built in the 1930s to resemble an antebellum, plantation-style manor home. Elvis paid $100,000-plus for the mansion in 1957. Located on "Elvis Presley Boulevard," a portion of Highway 51 South in Memphis, Tennessee, the majestic-looking Georgian mansion sits amidst an extraordinarily overflowing mass of plasticized suburban sprawl. There are an astounding number of fast-food establishments within a one-mile radius of the estate.

Inside, the front rooms of the house...