Check out 17 prints from famed fashion photographer Lillian Bassman, who died just last month, at Books & Books Miami Beach. Now through June 1.Bassman won acclaim in the 1940s and ’50s with high-contrast black-and-white portraits of models that had a dreamy quality. In the 1990s, she rediscovered a stash of lost negatives and emerged as a fine-art photographer.A new book of her work Lillian Bassman: Lingerie has just been published. As Ginia Bellafante put it in the New York Times recently, “In place of heavyset women constraining themselves in what was essentially equipment, Ms. Bassman deployed immeasurably lithe models, conveying a world in which women seemed to linger in the pleasures of their own sensuality.” Fifty years later, these images have lost none of their allure, and the enormous cultural impact of the TV show Mad Men has given them new currency.  1. It’s a Cinch, model: Carmen, Merry Widow by Warner’s, 1951, for Harper’s Bazaar, © Lillian Bassman  2. Southwest Passage—Sunset Pink, pajamas by Kickernick, 1951, for Harper’s Bazaar, © Lillian Bassman   3. The Line Lengthens, lingerie by Lily of France, 1955, for Harper’s Bazaar, © Lillian Bassman     4. Silo, Bra and Panties, 1948 (advertisement for Firestone Contro elastic yarn), © Lillian Bassman   

When Rachel Bertsche first moves to Chicago, she’s thrilled to finally share a zip code, let alone an apartment, with her boyfriend. But shortly after getting married, Bertsche realizes that her new life is missing one thing: friends. Sure, she has plenty of BFFs—in New York and San Francisco and Boston and Washington, D.C. Still, in her adopted hometown, there’s no one to call at the last minute for girl talk over brunch or a reality-TV marathon over a bottle of wine. Taking matters into her own hands, Bertsche develops a plan: She’ll go on fifty-two friend-dates, one per week for a year, in hopes of meeting her new Best Friend Forever.In her thought-provoking, uproarious memoir -- MWF Seeking BFF (Ballentine, $15) -- Bertsche blends the story of her girl-dates (whom she meets everywhere from improv class to friend rental websites) with the latest social research to examine how difficult—and hilariously awkward—it is to make new friends as an adult. In a time when women will happily announce they need a man but are embarrassed to admit they need a BFF, Bertsche uncovers the reality that no matter how great your love life is, you’ve gotta have friends.