Bad Boys and Tough Tattoos, a Social History of the Tattoo With Gangs, Sailors and Street-Corner Punks, (1950-1965)
by Samuel M. Steward, Ph.D

In the early 1950s, when tattoos were the indelible mark of a lowlife, a professor of English abandoned his job to become a tattoo artist (and incidentally a researcher for Alfred Kinsey). Bad Boys and Tough Tattoos tells the story of his years working in a squalid arcade on Chicago's tough State Street. During that time he left his mark on a hundred thousand people, from youthful sailors who flaunted their tattoos as a rite of manhood, to executives who tried to hide their passion for well-ornamented flesh. Published in 1990 by the Haworth Press, Inc. 6 x 8 ½ . Soft cover, 204 pages.

Price: $20.00