Kane died in 2004, mere weeks after his beloved dolls reuinted at the Morrisey-organized Meltdown Festival. At that time only three original Dolls remained. The reunion was caught on film for the documentary New York Doll. The film focused on Kane and with his conversion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

With I, Doll, Kane shares his story of the New York Dolls formative years. He does not waste any time on introductions and gets right down to the dirt of five boys, dressed like girls, starting a little rock and roll band. He wrote most of his story in the late 1980s and early '90s. He pulls no punches. His displeasure with certain people - notably singer David Johansen - is palpable. Kane only refers to Johansen as "the singer", accuses him of all manner of iniquities or simply ignores his presence.

On the other end, Kane is often sweet and clearly demonstrates his deep love and affection for the other Dolls, especially guitarist Johnny Thunders and drummer Billy Murcia.

Kane has a loose, ragtag writing style. It's not Yeats, but he's got a style and enthusiasm. A rock and roll child of the '60s. Very much New York Dolls.

His story includes run-ins with Ziggy Stardust, Mick Jagger and the Dutchess of Kent. The timeline is the birth of the dolls through to the death of Murcia. In between are wild stories of life in the big apple, as well as the Dolls' disastrous, yet legend-making, tour of England.

The New York Dolls are a textbook warning of the pitfalls of the music business. As many problems as the band faced, Kane wore it like a badge of courage. It was his whole life, his family. When they dumped him in a Florida trailer park a few years later, he was never the same. As he was writing, some twenty years after the fact, he remained bitter and felt like a victim. Kane comes across as two men - one bitter and angry, the other very sweet and happy to be standing in his 4-inch platform heels.

To round out the book Kane's widow Barbara provides a sketch of his pre-Dolls life and the life the couple's life together after. The duo collaborated on music and struggled to get into movies. They landed a few bit parts in bad horror films. They felt blacklisted by the music community. Meanwhile, Kane's alcoholism which began as rock band recreation, turned ugly. He often attacked his wife or harmed himself.

As difficult and heartbreaking as Kane's story is at times, it is very hard not to get caught up in the excitement and enthusiasm he felt for being a New York Doll.