Magazine publishing

Profiles of the editors, founders, and publishers behind influential magazines, and the people from the entertainment world whose lives crossed paths with the publishing industry.

Hugh Hefner stands outdoors at the Playboy Mansion.

Magazine publishing

Hugh Hefner: Playboy Fame and a Contested Legacy

Hugh Hefner was the founder of Playboy, the magazine and entertainment company that became one of the most recognizable symbols of postwar American sexual culture. He built Playboy from a 1953 magazine into a media, hospitality, merchandise, and licensing business, while making himself the public face of its bachelor-luxury