Life of Gen. James H. Lane, "The Liberator Fo Kansas": With Corroborative Incidents of Pione... Book

EDIT: My opinion of Ron Jeremy took a bit of a hit when I researched his Wiki bio in preparation for finishing this review, and it didn’t take long to verify the legitimacy of most of the complaints. Seems our man has garnered a number of sexual assault allegations over the past couple of years, most of which occurred well after the publication date of this book. That tarnishes the more or less “clean” image that Jeremy worked so diligently to present in this book, and that’s too bad. Porn, like any other sexual transaction, relies on consent. Bad things happen when that wall of consent is violated, and that’s kind of where I draw my line with relation to porn and erotica in general. Not to say that I don’t enjoy reading De Sade. I do. But THAT is a style of sexual and philosophical and political literature that really only has a passing influence on modern porn, and one would certainly not compare “Philosophy in the Boudoir” with the ghost-written autobiography of a man nicknamed “The Hedgehog.” Anyway, reading of Jeremy’s accusations has caused me to drop any recommendation that I might have had for this book. I wasted my time on it, but there is certainly no reason for you to. Still, I’m not going to trash a perfectly good review just because I caught wind of information that made me amend my initial impressions of the work in question. It’s an object lesson for those of us who review and like to think that we have some sort of ethical code to rely on when it comes to how honest we are with ourselves and our audience. In that spirit I present my original review and hope that maybe I learned a little something from this experience.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: Pornography is a very difficult topic to write about. Let’s face it, it is a polarizing subject under the best of circumstances. Literary and classical porn seem to get a pretty fair pass here on Goodreads, which isn’t really all that surprising. And there is, after all, a reasonably clear distinction between what might be considered “erotica” vs. hard core pornography as depicted in popular media. And there have been plenty of examples of hard-core pornography going “mainstream,” such as the horrid yet ubiquitous “Fifty Shades of Grey,” which single handedly set back an elightened understanding of BDSM a few decades.

Still, pornography as a whole can still be tricky territory to navigate. And I get it, or at least I like to think that I do. Please feel free to let me know if my stance needs revision. I’m always willing to rethink a position in the light of a good, solid argument based on facts and rational reasoning. Fact: there is a TON of bad, exploitative, cheaply produced porn on the market. Also a fact: there is a lot of reasonably fun and creative porn on the market, made by people who have a vested interest in keeping the industry safe and responsible. As an aside, I have found that a lot of the better pornography is written and directed by women, who view porn as less exploitative and more empowering than you might expect. All of that said, I know most of the feminist arguments against porn, and I certainly don’t intend to jump into that argument here in a simple book review.

I personally have no real big issues with pornography, as long as it’s well done and made in a spirit of fun and inclusion for the performers and the audience alike. I have befriended several performers and directors of porn on Facebook, and have found all of them to be intelligent and well-informed people who just seem like, well, PEOPLE at the end of the day.

Thus I had no hesitation whatsoever when presented with the opportunity to purchase a copy of “Ron Jeremy: The Hardest (Working) Man in Show Business.” Ron Jeremy is one of the most respected and recognized performers in the history of the business. He has made appearances in mainstream movies and has an ongoing gig as a stand-up comedian. Jeremy’s main claim to fame is the size of his well…..male appendage, and it’s that particular tool of the trade that made him such a popular partner to work with for both directors and other performers alike. Jeremy was also one of the first adult performers to successfully make the transition from actor to director, frequently doing double-duty as talent on both sides of the camera.

And I’ll state up front that Jeremy’s book pretty much delivers the goods as I expected that it would. The man himself seems likable enough, well-educated and well-spoken and much more multi-dimensional than you might expect at first glance. The man holds a Master’s Degree in Special Education and is classically trained in piano. So what you get here is 360 (!!!) pages of text and mostly PG-13 photographs that chronicle Jeremy’s basic life history from birth to the end of the book, copyright 2007. The guy can certainly tell a good story, and he keeps things surprisingly clean for the most part, considering the bulk of the subject matter. Not to say that there isn’t a good level of lascivious detail to be found here, but I was kind of amazed at how…..sterile…..things can get on a porn set.

Fun fact #1: Not really spoiling much here, but Ron Jeremy has a large penis. You can look up the exact dimensions for yourself, but the dude clocks in at well over nine inches. He is one of the few male porn stars that can fellate himself, and yes I have seen proof of that on film on more than one occasion.

Ron Jeremy used a ghostwriter named Eric Spitznagel, who puts in an appearance as a character in the second epilogue in the book. I’m sure that this kept the text flowing freely, but I’m a bit disappointed that a man as well versed in words would use a ghost when he was perfectly well capable of doing the job himself. That said, the book is written in first person as if it were really Ron Jeremy narrating his life story for the masses. I don’t really think that this negates the authenticity of the book, but it probably knocks this down from a 4-star review to a 3-star effort as far as I am concerned. I get it. Probably 95% of celebrity “autobiographies” are ghosted, but it’s disappointing when the situation could clearly have been avoided.

Fun fact #2: Jeremy’s most famous nickname of “The Hedgehog” dates to very early in his career, bestowed upon him by fellow porn actor Bill Margold. The combination of Jeremy’s fair skin and his hairy body made him look like a “little pink hedgehog.” The nickname stuck.

Jeremy does a reasonably decent job of giving the general reader an idea of what life is like on a real porn movie set. It’s not a real pretty picture for the most part. Actors and actresses have to hold themselves in awkward positions for long periods of time, and shooting conditions are not always comfortable to say the least. Not to mention the legal troubles that one can get into when one sells sex for a living. The section in the book where Jeremy recounts his adventures with the Los Angeles Vice Squad were eye-opening, to say the least. I knew some of this stuff already, having read several other porn bios and histories, but it was still interesting to see how far the police would go to try and get a conviction.

Fun fact #3: Ron Jeremy appeared in the second season of the reality television show “The Surreal Life,” where he became close friends with Tammy Faye Bakker, the former wife of televangelist James Bakker. The two mismatched friends continued their relationship all the way until Tammy Bakker’s death from cancer.

I found myself laughing out loud more than once during the reading of the book. I really don’t have a whole lot here to complain about, other than the somewhat pedestrian subject matter of the entire project. A few other reviewers have complained about Jeremy’s incessant name-dropping, but look, that’s kind of what the guy DOES to help promote himself. Ron Jeremy is a consummate hustler at heart, and I don’t find it at all surprising that he takes every opportunity to grab a picture with a celebrity in the hopes that it may somehow open the door to his dreams of finally getting what he considers to be a legitimate part in a big name production. I’d be more amused to see the reactions of the many A-list celebrities that Jeremy is pictured with getting their first gander at this book and realizing that they were somehow conned into posing for a photo-op with the legendary “Hedgehog” in all of his meaty and hairy glory, yukking it up as he puts another notch on his not unsubstantial belt.

Overall, the book comes across as relatively harmless fun. There are much better volumes out there if you are looking for a more comprehensive history of porn as a cultural phenomenon, and there are also better porn star bios on the market as well, including the very well done “Lights, Camera, Sex!!” by Christy Canyon. I wouldn’t necessarily skip this one if you happen to catch it at a good price at the used book store as I did. Don’t expect too much out of it and it won’t disappoint you. It’s way worth a good chuckle or two at the “Hedgehog’s” expense.

FINAL EDIT: Anyhow, too much time spent on this, methinks. Carry on, nothing to see here……….