Richard Kern. Action (with DVD)

Richard Kern likes real women: unpretentious, unadorned, and definitely undressed.

Those who love Kern know each book is an invitation to join him in his privileged world where natural young women share their most intimate moments. Kern has never lost his boyish curiosity with girls and their secrets, so instead of posing them in sterile sets he follows them through the house - or rather his New York apartment - from backyard to kitchen to bathroom to bedroom, capturing every sexy and embarrassing moment. Action is his most revealing book yet. But we know that sometimes it can be a little risky to look at a book this revealing in public, so this special edition comes with TASCHEN’s clever new Panic Cover feature to end public censure once and for all. Simply slip off the attractive but explicit cover, reverse, and redress your book for a sedate look perfect for all occasions.

For 240 pages we will still be careening through the life of Kern, accompanied by dozens of energetic, fun-loving, clothes-dropping exhibitionists, but those ladies in the park will think you’re reading The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire! “Young women want to show the world they’re not like their man-hating women’s lib mothers,” a Kern model once told me, and these girls certainly get the point across.

To further assist the young ladies in their rebellion, the book includes an hour-long DVD of original Kern film with an exclusive musical score by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. Way to stick it to the Mom, ladies! And thank you, Richard, you lucky dog.-Dian Hanson