Doors, the

In 1967, when the Doors broke on through to rock success, that achievement represented more than just another trend in pop music. The band's catchy hit tunes and its charis- matic lead singer, Jim Morrison, may have lit fires in the hearts of teenage girls across the country, but at the same time devoted fans came to look forward to Doors albums as messages from the front in what seemed to be a great cultural war. The Doors were, said Morrison, "erotic politicians." Morrison embodied not only the contra- dictory ambitions and rebellions of the group, but also those of a whole generation, and his legal problems and early death symbolized for many the inherent conflicts of his time. But the music remained, and it was heard long after Morrison was laid to rest in the poet's corner of a Paris graveyard in 1971. By the 1980s Morrison himself had become an icon just as earlier artists had been for him, and he inspired another generation in its search for identity. Twenty years on, he re- mains as potent a symbol as ever. In The Doors, William Ruhlmann (author of The History Of The Grateful Dead) looks at the story of Morrison and the Doors and at the times in which their career was played out, as well as at the legacy they have spawned. Including 70 black-and-white and 30 color photographs, along with a full-color poster, The Doors provides a glimpse into the circumstances that shaped one of the seminal rock bands, of the 1960s, a band whose music can be heard almost as often today as it was more than 20 years ago.