The Lizard King: The Essential Jim Morrison

Jim Morrison, lead singer of the Doors, has achieved a bizarre cult status since his death in 1971. Morrison was one of the most popular and controversial figures to emerge during the sixties; described as an 'erotic politician', poet, shaman, Dionysian drunk, his style and influence have grown steadily in the twenty years since his death, so that the real man has gradually disappeared behind the legend. Now, in The Lizard King: The Essential Jim Morrison, Morrison's biographer Jerry Hopkins, co-author of No One Here Gets Out Alive, reassesses Jim's life and provides fresh insights into him as a human being rather than the myth that he has become. But this reassessment is only part of this remarkable book. At its heart is a series of interviews with Jim Morrison by journalists including Hopkins himself, Ben Fong-Torres, John Tobler, Bob Chorush, Salli Stevenson, Richard Goldstein and the late John Carpenter, Morrison shows himself to have been articulate, intelligent and witty. Publis

“'A refreshing addition to the already large shelf of books about the Doors and their lead singer. Neither mythmaker nor debunker, Hopkins views Morrison as a talented yet disturbed person, easy to dislike but impossible to dismiss. In particular 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of the star's death ever published, an unusually sensitive treatment of his first wife, Pam Courson, and a previously unpublished interview ...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

Jerry Hopkins co-authored No One Here Gets Out Alive -- the five-million copy bestseller, which was on the New York Times bestseller list for over nine months.

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