Interviewing the Enemy and Other Cold War Players: US Foreign Policy as Seen Through Playboy During the Reagan Years

Abstract

It is a common joke that Playboy magazine has been “read for the articles.” However, there has been relatively little academic interest in what the articles in Playboy have actually been about. As this essay shows, the volumes of Playboy magazine offer a remarkable archive of critical reviews of US foreign politics. The chapter approaches Playboy as one of the spaces for expanding the political understanding of the American public during the global Cold War by discussing the magazine’s engagement with international figures on issues of US foreign politics published in its innovative question-and-answer interview format during the Reagan era.