Since its publication a decade ago, this Lambda Literary Award-nominated book has become a classic, must-read book on human sexuality and identity.

The diverse contributors look at the history of the gay and lesbian underground, how radical gay sex practice relates to their spirituality, and what S/M means to them personally.

"A groundbreaking anthology...This first non-fiction, co-gender collection to document the queer leather scene is an instant classic." - The San Francisco Review of Books

"Leatherfolk reveals a side of Leather and S/M as no book before - its heart and soul. It is an intelligently edited work with essays that complement and contrast in vibrant concert. Thompson gives us the varied voices of those who use extreme sex as an integral part of their lives - those who have undertaken the hero's journey into a forbidden world and have been transformed. The writers in this book have earned their chaps." - Lambda Book Report

Mark Thompson is a former contributing writer and senior editor of the Advocate (1975-1994) and author of five influential books chronicling gay history and culture. He is best known, however, for a trilogy of volumes dealing with gay spirituality: Gay Spirt: Myth and Meaning (cited as one of the "100 Lesbian and Gay Books that Changed Our Lives"), Gay Soul:Finding the Heart of Gay Spirit and Nature, and the Lambda Literary Award-nominated Gay Body: A Journey Through Shadow to Self. He lives in Los Angeles, where he works as a psychotherapist.