Larry Flynt (1942–2021)

I labeled it for the "erotica and sensual" shelf because it deals with the topic of sex scandals, but it is not a risque book per se. As there are some mentions of gay and lesbian affairs, I labeled it for the "glbtq" shelf. Ok, now what we got that out of the way, let's look at the book itself.

Organized in chapters, the book provides a history of major scandals as well as affairs and peccadilloes of politicians and those who loved them. We go from colonial times to the Clinton era to our time as the conclusion does bring the book close to up to date. The only reason I gave it three stars is because the prose can be a little dry at times. It is not a bad book at all, and history trivia fans will probably like it. If you enjoy reading about sex scandals, you will probably like it as well.

In the book the authors make some key points:

*Politicians are human beings. This means they are sexual beings. You cannot really remove this from the equation.

*Honestly, making a big deal of a politician's sex life is kind of a wasted effort. However, it does (seem to) have an effective use to expose hyprocrites. This is particularly significant with the current political climate in the U.S. Historically, as in recent history, the GOP positioned itself as the party of morality. Now their sins and vices are coming back to haunt them. This leads to the next point.

*The louder a moralist yells, the more likely he or she has big, ugly skeletons in their closet. If they yell the loudest, you can bet there is some sexual issue hidden there. I would say that the classic definition of a conservative as someone who fears that someone else someplace and somewhere is having a good time is accurate.

*As a nation, we need to grow the fuck up. We need to have a more European maturity when it comes to sexual matters and the private lives of politicians. This is illustrated quite nicely in the early chapter on Benjamin Franklin, where he is contrasted to John Adams, who was a prude. Some food for thought there.

So overall, this is a book worth reading. And it is a book worth discussing. And for the love of cripe, if the fact Larry Flynt is a co-author bothers you, you need to grow the hell up.
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Ah the sex lives of US presidents, examined and laid bare by Larry Flynt and David Eisenbach. It's an interesting read, some of the commentary about how sometimes the people a president is forced to lie about can be the cause of some of his decisions. Coming from a country where our Prime Minister was for a long time living openly with his mistress and where an openly gay man ran for our presidency, a country that is held to be more antiquated than the US I find it a bit amusing to read about some of the things that made people twitch.
Then again, I find that the hipocracy and lies are more damaging to people. As the afterword says, honesty is a better policy, if you have to lie so much about yourself, how easy does it make to lie about other things? Possibly things that are really important in the grand scheme of things.

Much of what is written here is speculation, based on hearsay, rumour and conjecture, not on rigid fact and the authors gloss over the possibility that some people could be genuinely asexual. Quite readable though.… (más)

With this book, Larry Flynt has once again focused on sex, but this is no Hustler article. Written with Columbia University professor David Eisenbach, this book lays bare many rumors and scandals involving national-level politicians. The authors do not merely tell tales of sexual proclivities and affairs, however. With each private life revealed, they also display and discuss how the sexual activities surrounding the people in or near the White House have affected policy and altered history.

The authors begin with the founding fathers and then proceed through the following administrations chronologically with some actors appearing multiple times. The extramarital affairs, the homosexual relations, and the like are interesting, but the more cogent elements involve how these sexual situations mattered to the nation. The following are a mere fraction of the stories covered in the book. Ben Franklin’s romancing convinced France to aid us in the Revolution. Buchanan’s failure to adequately address secessionists was likely the result of the influence of his lover, William Rufus King. Eleanor Roosevelt’s relationship with lesbian women led to her own liberation and call for equality. J. Edgar Hoover’s skinny on seemingly everyone in Congress allowed him to strong-arm in his favored policies.

Whatever else you may say about Larry Flynt, one thing is true; he is a bastion of free speech. His aim with this book was to reveal how elections, economics, international relations, and war were affected by the sex lives of the nation’s leaders. In addition, the changes in social mores and journalistic codes of ethics are shown. In the book’s conclusion, the authors summarize with some plain facts: politicians have always, are currently, and will continue to have sexual scandals. They further point out that it is the role of the public to disallow these commonplace activities to divert our attentions from what really matters – a mature approach to politics that attempts to provide the greatest amount of income and civil rights equality for all.… (más)