Role Models is a personal invitation into one of the most unique, perverse, and hilarious artistic minds of our time.

From the incomparable John Waters, a paean to the power of subversive inspiration that will delight, amuse, enrich-and happily horrify readers everywhere.

Role Models is, in fact, a self-portrait told through intimate profiles of favorite personalities-some famous, some unknown, some criminal, some surprisingly middle-of-the-road. From Esther Martin, owner of the scariest bar in Baltimore, to the playwright Tennessee Williams; from the atheist leader Madalyn Murray O'Hair to the insane martyr Saint Catherine of Siena; from the English novelist Denton Welch to the timelessly appealing singer Johnny Mathis-these are the extreme figures who helped the author form his own brand of neurotic happiness.