cover image SEX, LIES & POLITICS: The Naked Truth

SEX, LIES & POLITICS: The Naked Truth

Larry Flynt, . . Kensington, $24 (256pp) ISBN 978-0-7582-0483-7

There's a lot more politics than sex in Flynt's provocative polemic against conservatism in general and the Bush administration in particular—which just goes to show how exercised the Hustler entrepreneur is by current policies and trends. The first chapter deals with Flynt's rise from smalltown Kentucky to become what he calls a "smut peddler with opinions"; the last chapter concerns his outspoken views on sex. In between he sounds a lot like Michael Moore and Al Franken as he "Flynts" what he calls the hypocrisy of the political right. He blasts right-wingers for their attacks on liberal live-and-let-live values, the Bush administration for the Iraq war and Attorney General Ashcroft for post–September 11 policies that Flynt believes have stripped Americans of their civil liberties. All of this has been done elsewhere, including past Flynt books like An Unseemly Man , but Flynt's sharp edge keeps this polemic moving, tabloid-style. As U.S. opinion polls showed less support for the war in September 2003, "Americans were waking up and smelling something other than the coffee." Agent, Kim Dower. (July)