Jim Morrison & The Doors: Ride the Snake - Softcover

‘Morrison fans will welcome the most vivid descriptions of the star's death ever published, an unusually sensitive treatment of his first wife, Pam Courson, and a previously unpublished interview ... His polished style and sense of balance, evident throughout, add luster to this well-explored subject. ’ -- Publishers Weekly

‘It seems appropriate that Hopkins, who co-authored No One Here Gets Out Alive, offered the first mainstream Morrison biography and the basis for Oliver Stone's 1991 film The Doors... Hopkins hits all the biographical high-water marks and provides new information regarding Morrison's family, the infamous Miami trial and, most importantly, Morrison's death, which was ambiguously treated in the previous book. Ultimately, the explication of the man who would be Lizard King is best left to Morrison himself, and the collection of seven interviews that follow the narrative yields the most insight ... this is a solid contribution to the burgeoning Morrison/Doors canon. ’ - Library Journal

‘Hopkins, the coauthor of the five-million-copy bestseller No One Here Gets Out Alive, presents startling new material he has unearthed about Jim Morrison, notorious lead singer of The Doors. Hopkins now reassesses Morrison's life and death and provides insights on Morrison the human being. ’ - Ingram

Led by reckless genius Jim Morrison and shrouded in a haze of sexual mysticism, the Doors embody sixties rebellion like no other act. Ride the Snake pieces together the facts of their short but incandescent career, drawing upon an eclectic array of interviews, articles, newspaper reports, trial documents, FBI reports and more. From college days at UCLA, and the Doors’ first bourbon-fuelled appearances on Sunset Strip, through to Morrison’s untimely death in 1971, it tells their heady history in full. Worshipped by fans and reviled by the establishment, Morrison’s scandalous conduct — both on and off the stage – is the stuff of legend. Ride the Snake censors not a single scandal in the Doors’ sensational history — presenting the finest writing on the band ever to appear in print.

Meticulously selected by Jerry Hopkins — co-author of No One Here Gets Out Alive, the multi-million-copy-selling, definitive biography of Jim Morrison — Ride the Snake is a collection of the finest writing on the Doors by rock journalists, cultural commentators, journalists, scholars, and biographers, alongside contributions from their friends and acquaintances. This book is essential reading for any serious Doors fan, providing a fascinating overview of a band who continue to exert a huge influence on music and popular culture.