One of the last taboos left in this age of sexual openness is the prohibition against sex between adults and children. Indeed, men who engage in sex with young males or females are treated as modern day folk-devils, deserving society s severest and most draconian punishment.

Clarence Osborne was a 56-year-old Australian court reporter who regularly had sex with young boys and adolescents. Indeed, this mild, frail-looking man was able to have sexual adventures with 2500 adolescent males, most of whom appeared willing to physically and emotionally relate to him.

In exploring the life of this sexual pied-piper, Wilson raises questions about sexuality that are bound to make this book a highly controversial one. The questions challenge conventional wisdom:

why shouldn’t children and adolescents be allowed to engage in sexual relations with whom they want? Are men who have consenting sex with youths wicked sex fiends or benevolent father figures? Do men seduce boys or do the boys often seduce the men? Have we grossly misunderstood the sexual and emotional needs of young and not-so-young males?

Written without the jargon inherent in many social science tracts, Wilson’s book is both absorbing and provocative. The reader max not agree with the author’s conclusions, but he will at least be made to think hard about the moral and social issues surrounding sexual relationships between men and youths.