Sweating the Details

A men's magazine proves not sexy enough to thrive

A guy needs big cojones to stay on top in the vicious field of men's-magazine editing today. More important, he needs big hooters. Mark Golin had both. As editor of Maxim, founded in 1997, he audaciously jettisoned the literary pretense and fashion froufrou of traditional men's mags, hanging a promise of SEX--SPORTS--BEER on the cover like a neon sign on a strip club. There were dirty jokes, a winking attitude and girls, girls, girls, proffering their ample bosoms in bikini tops and less. Shockingly, young men showed up in droves. "Maxim came at the end of a long, dreary, p.c. era,"...

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