A trained classical musician, Robert E. Roberts forsook composing harpsichord music to become a gifted tattoo artist. In his eye-opening memoir, Roberts, aka "Mad Dog," describes coming out as a gay man and treats us to a mosaic of ink stories that document the height of the San Francisco Gay Revolution. Every tattoo has a story, and Roberts' categorization of the tattoo images and their meaning in gay life is a veritable Rosetta Stone providing new insights into the great social changes that were taking place. Here is a brightly shining memoir detailing the identities, challenges, sorrows and joys of gay life in powerful, archetypal images including machismo, bear culture, tribalism, and mythology.