This is a well-researched and finely-written book about The Beatles and the image they created - or, more accurately, was created for them. It is doubtful whether the Fab Four ever thought about how important the clothes they wore might be in terms of selling records, or the idea that they shouldn't smoke in front of the press or even mention that they might be married.

That is the premise of this book: how the image affected the media. In his preface, Frontani writes,

"What was it about the Beatles that made them such 'lightning rods' for comment - both positive and negative - ten years after the breakup of the band? These questions (this is an excerpt) form the starting point for my work on this book."

"The Beatles remain successful nearly four decades after their breakup ... Undoubtedly this can be partly explained by their celebrated songbook. But, surely, other bands and entertainers from the 1960s have well thought-of music catalogs."

The music was everything. It was so brilliant and unique and special, far outdistancing some of the other acts of the day - the Rolling Stones and The Who, The Kinks and the Dave Clark Five - that they could have adopted an image of T-shirt and Hawaiian shorts and they still would have been regarded as icons and cultural shapeshifters.

Certainly, though, the image helped. The manicured and carefully cultivated look made them world-famous. The coiffures and sense of humor, the etiquette and the cinematic portrait captured in their films (A Hard Day's Night and Help!) all added to their immense impact.

This is an interesting book and an in-depth examination of the people behind the headlines. One of the author's assumptions is that "Their image comprised, in part, two seemingly inconsistent qualities: They were exceptional and they were identifiable as 'us'..."

This is true, and we were drawn to that dichotomy. But it was not something the band tried to create or hone; this is simply who they were. All the examination and scrutiny in the world can't come up with any better answer than that.