Leatherman's Handbook II
by Larry Townsend
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Book Summary Information
Author: Larry TownsendEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-07-24
ISBN: 1881684202
Number of pages: 328
Publisher: BookSurge Publishing
Book Reviews of Leatherman's Handbook II
Book Review: Revising a Classic for The Better
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't know if Larry Townsend ever had an inkling of just how influential his 1972 original "The Leatherman's Handbook" would become. I am certain he probably had no idea that - within a decade - the mantra of Gay Liberation would become fogged over by the onset of the plague of AIDS and the total indifference of the Reagan Administration. Leathermen, with their work hard play harder sexual ethic, were hit especially hard.
So ten years later, Larry took the results of surveys he'd taken with thousands of men, edited the language a bit (the original was written with a lot of seventies lingo) and made the important additions to reflect the changing health concerns. While still a revelatory book, it is also a more sober one. Back in the seventies, it was still a very risky proposition to attempt a gay publication of any sort. In the AIDS prejudiced panic of the 80's, it was still a considerable risk.
Larry Townsend's "The Leatherman's Handbook II," like its 1972 original, still spells out the codes of conduct that the underground Leather Scene and S&M men lived by and the numerous accounts of steamy real life kink encounters remained, though now with addendums about safety and health issues.
Even now, with a much wider variety of books available on how to and relationship studies, not to mention my own writings, it is hard to remember a time when Larry's book was such a shocking event. Voluntary servitude and fetishistic behaviors are given a great deal of coverage here, and the amazing thing is just how much most of Larry's original foundations remain relevant. Even more to the point is just how much the format of both editions of "The Leatherman's Handbook" became the blueprint for so much of our community's guidebooks; A little journalistic information followed up with some hot episodes.
Still, "The Leatherman's Handbook" one and two remain viable sources of both etiquette and education in addition to its historical value. Larry's work here is quite possibly one of the most important pair of books about the side of Gay Life that many would like to ignore, but it's with us and vibrant and exciting for those who have taken this intimate discovery. Like mine; a man who stumbled across a $5.95 edition of "The Leatherman's Handbook II" in a Delaware bookstore in 1989 and still has the dog-eared paperback on his bookshelf all these years later. It changed my life like gravity.
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