The Little Book of Tom. Blue Collar by Dian Hanson (Paperback)

As a boy, Tom\u2019s first crush was a\nstrapping young farmhand who worked the fields around his family home. Finland\nis a land of tough physical men, catching fish in the icy sea; cutting logs in\nthe endless forests; threshing oats, rye, and barley on the farms. Tom, a more\nsensitive boy, admired these rough men and their distinctive clothing, designed\nfor protection and utility. He later said, \u201CWhen I was young, leather was worn\nby people who worked outside because it was warm. All the men who wore leather,\nthey were the type of men which I adored.\u201D\n\nWhen he began to draw he\ncelebrated these early idols, improving their wardrobes with tight jeans, faded\nT-shirts, and thigh-high beak-toed Lappish boots. It was a young logger in this\ngear who appeared on the spring 1957 cover of Physique Pictorial, introducing\nTom to the world. In the decades to follow Tom added truckers, repairmen,\nconstruction workers, circus roustabouts, and the American cowboy to his roste.