Michael Hone

Boys Michael Hone

The Greeks celebrated their dead with steles and statues depicting them at the age philosophers judged so beautiful that it was reserved for the gods themselves, 16. Sixteen is the moment of bodily perfection, when budding biceps and pectorals take on the strength of steel, the complexion is of peaches-and-cream splendor, where male prowess is diamond-hard and tireless. It's the age of discovery and adventure, the accomplishment of the feats which provide the memories that will help men get through old age, until they close their eyes for the final time, perhaps smiling. BOYS is a fully-illustrated, historically exact account of the early years of young men, from Gilgamesh to Alexander the Great to Cellini whose lover plucked the first hairs from his chin to remember him by, and Machiavelli who admits the ecstasy of growling into the ears of his lover while taking his pleasure. Devine Caravaggio and Cellini were killers during their youth, explorer Stanley grew up in the filth of a workhouse, where he experienced every form of sexual perversion known to man. Gottfried Cramm was a world-celebrated tennis champion who made the cover of Time, thanks to whom we'll delve into the sexuality of youths in pre-war Berlin. Emperor Hadrian took the life of his lover, the adolescent Antinous, in order for his own to be prolonged, and Apollo learned boy-love from a mere mortal, the Spartan youth Hyacinth, while in Renaissance Italy Cesare Borgia killed Astore Manfredi, a boy so exquisite that Renaissance artists flocked to paint his portrait. Alain Delon and film director Xavier Dolan, as well as the icons of male beauty, Pavel Novotný, Darius Ferdynand and many others, are but some of the lads covered in BOYS. Because BOYS is for boys, I want to make sure they can afford it by requesting the minimum sum permitted by the editors. Its expense is due to its length. Nature chose my own personal camp for me, sexually, and I'm going to do my best, in this volume, as I have in all my other books, to prove that I've received a truly proud heritage--a heritage to be truly proud of--thanks to the fabulous men who preferred other men.