Hef's the centerfold in 'Mr. Playboy' biography

By Marco R. della Cava, USA TODAY Delivering a shocking, stripped-bare book about Hugh Hefner is a bit like promising an exposé on Madonna. In the case of both pop culture icons, every salacious turn has been well-documented, if not by the media then by the subjects themselves. So it comes as little surprise that Steven Watts' 500-page doorstop of a biography —Mr. Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream (Wiley, $29.95), out Monday — offers no tabloid bombshells about the sultan of sex. Instead, the book dissects Hefner's life as an American firebrand who shook up sexual mores after World War II. And he is still: Hefner, 82, confirmed Wednesday his split with twentysomething girlfriend Holly Madison after dashing her hopes for marriage (he has already done that twice) and kids (he has four). Little surprise that his... [read full story]