Exploring the Jim Morrison Era

Like every other chronicler of the ‘60s, Goldstein mentioned not one word about the disillusionment of that segment of the “older generation� which didn’t automatically disapprove of change or turn thumbs-down on behavior of “the kids.� There were many of us--already in our mid-40s--who hoped that just maybe the “younger generation� had found some answers that had eluded us; and in our way we were just as revved up--without ever resorting to acid or psychedelics--as students at Berkeley or attendees at a Doors concert.

Soon, though, we realized that much of the “rebellion� was just the well-known facade, merely lip service, chaos-for-the-sake-of-chaos, and that our so-called ultra-liberal kids were only doing what we had done back in the ‘30s . . . minus headlines.

And the ironic epilogue is that for all their “excess and self-indulgence� during the Jim Morrison era, once the sound and fury died down, so many of those ultra-liberal kids turned out far more staid/conservative/reactionary than we had ever been or ever will be.

DAVID R. MOSS

Los Angeles