Mr. Playboy cover art

Mr. Playboy

Hugh Hefner and the American Dream

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

€0.00/month for the first 3 months
Try for £0.00
£8.99/mo thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Offer ends 31 July 2025 at 23:59 GMT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.

Mr. Playboy

By: Steven Watts
Narrated by: Ray Porter
Try for £0.00

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends 31 July 2025 23:59 GMT. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

 When Hugh Hefner quit his job at Esquire to start a magazine called Playboy, he didn't just want to make money, he wanted to make dreams come true. The first issue had a Sherlock Holmes story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, an article on the Dorsey brothers, and a feature on desk design for the modern office. Hefner wrote much of the copy himself and drew all the cartoons. But the most memorable part by far was the set of pictures he bought from a local calendar printer of a scantily clad Marilyn Monroe.

In this wise and penetrating biography, intellectual historian Steven Watts looks at what Hugh Hefner went on to become and how he took America with him. Hefner became one of the most hated and envied celebrities in America, standing just barely on the wrong side of decency - with as many as seven million subscribers to his magazine.

©2008 Steven Watts (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Art & Literature Business Entertainment & Celebrities Journalists, Editors & Publishers Professionals & Academics Celebrity Liberalism Socialism Memoir

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Bad Girls Go Everywhere cover art
Goddess cover art
Outlaw Marriages cover art
The Girls Next Door cover art
The Extra Woman cover art
Feminism and Pop Culture cover art
A Strange Stirring cover art
A Difficult Woman cover art
Marilyn cover art
With Amusement for All cover art
Goddess of the Market cover art
Homintern cover art
Chester B. Himes cover art
Joy cover art
Ava Gardner cover art
Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions cover art
All stars
Most relevant  
felt like I was right there beside hugh. vividly written and in an extraordinary format. highly reccomend

perfectly done book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Not what I expected. I wanted all the gossip of who was there at the mansion and what went (which you do get a little of). More about how the business began and what happened after.

Hugh

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.