PLAYBOY HISTORY: Marilyn Monroe (Miss December, 1953) and closes with Sasckya Porto (Miss December, 2007).

Then there is Playboy: "The Complete Centerfolds", a book that commences with Marilyn Monroe (Miss December, 1953) and closes with Sasckya Porto (Miss December, 2007). Along the way, we chart the changing trends in hairstyles, lighting techniques, bikini bottoms, living room dicor and depilation. Wedged among the smiling naked women are essays by Robert Coover, Paul Theroux, Robert Stone, Jay McInerney, Daphne Merkin and Maureen Gibbon. About the centerfolds of the 1960s, Theroux writes: "In many cases these centerfolds are the epitome of American loveliness, our very own apsaras, with their creamy skins and bright smiles, the almost-awkward willingness in their postures, not hookers but prom queens and biker babes. For Americans who came of age in the 1960s, they are the girls of your dreams."