Playboy: 50 Years: The Photographs

I purchased this as a gift for my husband and he absolutely loves it. The book is done very tastefully and it's truly a work of art.

The photography of this PLAYBOY publication is exceptional, alluring and exquisite. The essence of these beautiful women are well documented through the insightful lenses of professional photographers dedicated to their subject in these esoteric and eclectic photographs. Perhaps obsessive in nature the object of this photographic compendium is just that - a dedication to nature and the instincts of man. The actual reproduction of the photographs could have been more vividly presented. Many of the pictures unfortunately look flat as printed in this book. That is the one drawback I found with this book.

Women shun playboy with exploitation yells while men flock to the magazine racks to keep playboy an institute. The bottom line is that Playboy is a mix between male fantasy and giving ladies an opportunity to reach fame in tactful photos. Ironically, the magazine that start all the scandals has converted into the gentleman of adult magazines. This book takes you down the past 50 years to demonstrate how Playboy has remain true to their intentions of presenting lovely ladies in daring, yet tasteful, photos.

Although it is a well put together book, I was a bit disappointed moreso from some of my own expectations. If you are a PLAYBOY fan, buy this book! I was, however, expecting to see all the playmates which did not happen :-( The photography is first class as they had selected the best of the best from its archive of over 10 million images. It is a brilliant review of 50 years of not only PLAYBOY but the history of that past era and it is well worth it.

This is a wonderful 240 page photography book of the 50 years of Playboy photography. It opens with the Playboy story, and how it grew into the great company it is today. The book then shifts over to the importance of the centerfold. I was nowhere near born when a lot of the beautiful women such as Ellen Stratton, Liv Lindeland, and Eve Meyer were posing, but I can see why the magazine was so successful. There is also a nice frontal and backside poster of Nancy Cameron included. The next chapter includes just a few of the many people that have contributed to the Playboy interview over the many years, talking about various controversial issues.There are more pictures included, this time of some beautiful celebrities, such as Cindy Crawford, Kim Basinger, Pamela Anderson, and Stephanie Seymour among a sea of others.The lifestyles section was very intriguing, to say the least. There are a lot of great photography shots in this section that absolutely stunned me. I cannot put into words what this is like, so go see for yourself!There is an artwork gallery of some fascinating and very detailed pictures. A lot of beautiful work that will leave you breathless, as well as a very disturbing piece of art that has scarred my mind forever. Finally, there is the covers section that they have included. I liked some of the old school covers that they had, some were very unique and others, while simple, still caught your attention. Overall I found this book very enjoyable. For younger fans of Playboy, such as myself, this gives only a small sense of what Playboy was, and how it has grew since then. For the older fans, I guess it will be nothing new, but it will be a nice trip down memory lane.