Allen in the Press
In this 1992 Washington Post profile, Allen interviews a sober, physically fit 51-year-old Ringo Starr, fresh from rehab and newly inspired by songwriting workouts with Johnny Warman. Starr re-emerges with the comeback album Time Takes Time and an all-star touring band (featuring the likes of Joe Walsh, Nils Lofgren, and son Zak), determined to leave his alcohol-blighted slump behind and prove that the Beatles’ once-underrated drummer still delivers rock’s most distinctive backbeat.
Ringo, Back on His Beat
The Junot Files: Elvis Presley & Steve Allen
In this episode of The Junot Files, Allen speaks with host Jim Junot about Elvis Presley’s famously tuxedo-and-basset-hound rendition of “Hound Dog” on the July 1, 1956 Steve Allen Show. He explains how a stunt meant to appease nervous network censors ended up turbo-charging Elvis’s national fame and proving how decisively television could shape a pop-culture icon.
In this 2009 episode of C-SPAN's “Book TV,” Allen and co-author James Boylston discuss their book, “David Crockett in Congress: The Rise and Fall of the Poor Man's Friend .” In their book, they present an examination of the life of U.S. Representative David Crockett that extends beyond his days as Davy Crockett the frontiersman, arguing that he was also a skilled politician and an advocate for the underprivileged.
David Crockett In Congress
Interview with Allen J. Wiener, author of Channeling Elvis: How Television Saved the King of Rock 'n' Roll
In this 2014 Elvis Information Network Q&A, Allen traces how every televised appearance, from Elvis’s electrifying 1956 debuts through the 1968 “Comeback” special, first rocketed, then repeatedly revived the King’s career. He discusses the research and myth-busting behind his book Channeling Elvis: How Television Saved the King of Rock ’n’ Roll, concluding that TV quite literally “made, remade and ultimately preserved” Presley’s legend.
New book explores truths about the Alamo's most celebrated figure
Scott Huddleston of Express-News reviews Allen’s eight-year biography, David Crockett in Texas: His Search for New Land. Huddleston writes that the book dismantles Alamo folklore by showing that Crockett, disillusioned with Andrew Jackson, ambivalent about slavery, and primarily seeking land for his family, wound up in a poorly led, under-supplied garrison and likely died fighting rather than as a captured folk hero martyr.
Channeling Elvis: How Television Saved the King of Rock ‘n Roll, by Allen J. Wiener
In this Paul Cool Books review, historian Paul Cool recounts being asked to blurb Allen J. Wiener’s manuscript and then warmly recommends Wiener's book Channeling Elvis: How Television Saved the King of Rock ’n’ Roll for its meticulous, myth-busting analysis of how Elvis’s TV appearances forged and repeatedly revived his stardom.
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