Listen and read

Step into an infinite world of stories

  • Read and listen as much as you want
  • Over 950 000 titles
  • Exclusive titles + Storytel Originals
  • Easy to cancel anytime
Try now
image.devices-Singapore 2x

Mr. Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream

47 Ratings

3.5

Duration
18H 37min
Language
English
Format
Category

Biographies

Gorgeous young women in revealing poses; extravagant mansion parties packed with celebrities; a hot-tub grotto, elegant smoking jackets, and round rotating beds; the hedonistic pursuit of uninhibited sex—put these images together and a single name springs to mind: Hugh Hefner. From his spectacular launch of Playboy magazine and the dizzying expansion of his leisure empire to his recent television hit The Girls Next Door, the publisher has attracted public attention and controversy for decades. But how did a man who is at once socially astute and morally unconventional, part Bill Gates and part Casanova, also evolve into a figure at the forefront of cultural change?

In Mr. Playboy, historian and biographer Steven Watts argues that, in the process of becoming fabulously wealthy and famous, Hefner has profoundly altered American life and values. Granted unprecedented access to the man and his enterprise, Watts traces Hef's life and career from his Midwestern, Methodist upbringing and the first publication of Playboy in 1953 through the turbulent sixties, self-indulgent seventies, reactionary eighties, and traditionalist nineties up to the present. He reveals that from the beginning Hefner believed he could overturn social norms and take America with him.

Throughout this fascinating biography, Watts offers singular insights into the real man behind the flamboyant public persona. He shows Hefner's personal dichotomies—the pleasure seeker and the workaholic, the consort of countless Playmates and the genuine romantic, the family man and the Gatsby-like host of lavish parties at his Chicago and Los Angeles mansions who enjoys well-publicized affairs with numerous Playmates, the fan of life's simple pleasures who hobnobs with the Hollywood elite. Punctuated with descriptions and anecdotes of life at the Playboy Mansions, Mr. Playboy tells the compelling and uniquely American story of how one person with a provocative idea, a finger on the pulse of popular opinion, and a passion for his work altered the course of modern history.

© 2008 Blackstone Publishing (Audiobook): 9781483071305

Release date

Audiobook: 1 March 2008

Others also enjoyed ...

  1. Humble Pie Gordon Ramsay
  2. Fear: Trump in the White House Bob Woodward
  3. Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. Ron Chernow
  4. A Life in Parts Bryan Cranston
  5. Open: An Autobiography Andre Agassi
  6. Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike Phil Knight
  7. Born to Run Bruce Springsteen
  8. Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup John Carreyrou
  9. Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty Patrick Radden Keefe
  10. John Lennon: The Life Philip Norman
  11. Kissinger: A Biography Walter Isaacson
  12. The Making of Donald Trump David Cay Johnston
  13. What I Know for Sure Oprah Winfrey
  14. Kochland: The Secret History of Koch Industries and Corporate Power in America Christopher Leonard
  15. Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit John E. Douglas
  16. The House of Gucci: A True Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed Sara Gay Forden
  17. The Way of the Wolf: Straight Line Selling: Master the Art of Persuasion, Influence, and Success Jordan Belfort
  18. Paris: The Memoir Paris Hilton
  19. Think BIG and Kick Ass in Business and Life Bill Zanker
  20. American Gangster and Other Tales of New York Mark Jacobson
  21. The Iceman: The True Story of a Cold-Blooded Killer Anthony Bruno
  22. I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Michelle McNamara
  23. Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson Jeff Guinn
  24. Permanent Record: A Memoir of a Reluctant Whistleblower Edward Snowden
  25. Nevertheless: A Memoir Alec Baldwin
  26. Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story Arnold Schwarzenegger
  27. MBS: The Rise to Power of Mohammed Bin Salman Ben Hubbard
  28. Margaret Thatcher: The Autobiography Margaret Thatcher
  29. Inside Obama's Brain Sasha Abramsky
  30. Churchill: The Prophetic Statesman James C. Humes
  31. Full Disclosure: The explosive memoir from the woman Trump tried to silence Stormy Daniels
  32. Adolf Hitler John Toland
  33. Down the Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny Holly Madison
  34. Inside Out: A Memoir Demi Moore
  35. The Vegas Diaries: Romance, Rolling the Dice, and the Road to Reinvention Holly Madison
  36. Amy, My Daughter Mitch Winehouse
  37. Love, Pamela: A Memoir of Prose, Poetry, and Truth Pamela Anderson
  38. Wishful Drinking Carrie Fisher
  39. The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band Nikki Sixx
  40. The Long Hard Road Out of Hell Neil Strauss
  41. Elvis and Me Priscilla Beaulieu Presley

Features:

  • Over 950 000 titles

  • Kids Mode (child safe environment)

  • Download books for offline access

  • Cancel anytime

Most popular

Unlimited

For those who want to listen and read without limits.

S$12.98 /month
3 days for free
  • 1 account

  • Unlimited Access

  • Unlimited listening

  • Cancel anytime

Try now

Unlimited Bi-yearly

For those who want to listen and read without limits.

S$69 /6 months
14 days for free
Save 11%
  • 1 account

  • Unlimited Access

  • Unlimited listening

  • Cancel anytime

Try now

Unlimited Yearly

For those who want to listen and read without limits.

S$119 /year
14 days for free
Save 24%
  • 1 account

  • Unlimited Access

  • Unlimited listening

  • Cancel anytime

Try now

Family

For those who want to share stories with family and friends.

From S$14.90/month
  • 2-3 accounts

  • Unlimited Access

  • Unlimited listening

  • Cancel anytime

2 accounts

S$14.90 /month
Try now