Inspirational, funny, moving. A time machine to a place called the 60's. This will open eyes and minds, give new awareness. Not for the shallow or ignorant.

After seeing 'Steal this movie', I had no choice but to learn more about this incredibly crazy man. This book is amazing...it made me laugh out loud, think, ponder the idea of getting out there and causing a ruckus in the name of freedom. His writing flows...like old friends reminicing about their life changing experiences. What an insane, beautiful man. I can only hope that there will be more like him to come...our country needs a good jousting in the ribs!

Norman Mailer has had a radical trajectory through the course of his career, and now, at age 75 with fifty years as a professional writer behind him, a summary collection is the fashion, and "The Time of Our Time" is the door stopper through which posterity should judge either his ascension, or decline in our literary Olympus. It's amazing, actually , how Mailer has controlled the course of criticisim of his work, as he did with "Advertisements for Myself" and later with the "Prisoner of Sex", both books through which his aesthetics were linked with a peculiarly Maileresque cosmology. One might despise Mailer and his philosophy, but a critic was still trapped discussing the work through the author's obsessions. And that is the mark of brilliance, Mailer could get is readers to talk about things he wanted to speak to, because his language is strangely persuasive, at his high point, even as it addresses the dark and obscene corners of the imagination, and the baser instincts of American power. "The Time of Our Time'again makes us consider his entire career through Mailer's filter, and understandably, it can be aggravating for someone expecting an easy in to the body of work.But it gives us the rewards, with generous selections form his best work, "Naked and the Dead", Armies of the Night", "Executioner's Song","An American Dream"--and like wise long excerpts from slighter efforts, like "Gospel According to the Son" and his recent Picasso biography. What there is is an an impressive reach over the five decades that he's been in the public eye, an early brashness turning into a combative and provocative brilliance that at times trips over it's own eloquence that later turned into thoughtful , epic scale story telling through which the previous ego centric prose vanished behind the tragedy writ in the Gary Gilmore saga. It's difficult not to be impressed with the range of Mailer's topics, in fiction, journalism, and essa! ys--World War 2 in the Pacific, Moon Landings, Black power, Women's Rights, Hunting, Reichian sexuality, the failure of Marxism, The Kennedy Assasination, Ancient Egypt, masculinity and American Literature, the dread of Modern architecture, the real meaning of the right wing, Boxing--and while Mailer at times seems breathless and throat clearing in his writing, that he's spreading a style too thin to cover the feeling that he's , for the moment, is bereft of anything interesting to say, you note the way he changes tact, changes styles, and ushers in another period of solid books that stand as his strongest."The Time of Our Time" provides an over long reflection of a career that has been victim of the author's proclaimed desire to be the champ of his generation, but it also gives us a chance to appreciate a brilliant talent that found expression in spite of Mailer's the self-annihilating quirks. Controversial, problematic, self-absorbed, but quintessientially American, and one of the best witnesses we could have had for the second half of the century.

Norman Mailer has had a radical trajectory through the course of his career, and now, at age 75 with fifty years as a professional writer behind him, a summary collection is the fashion, and "The Time of Our Time" is the door stopper through which posterity should judge either his ascension, or decline in our literary Olympus.

It's amazing, actually, how Mailer has controlled the course of criticism of his work, as he did with "Advertisements for Myself" and later with the "Prisoner of Sex", both books through which his aesthetics were linked with a peculiarly Maileresque cosmology. One might despise Mailer and his philosophy, but a critic was still trapped discussing the work through the author's obsessions. And that is the mark of brilliance, Mailer could get is readers to talk about things he wanted to speak to, because his language is strangely persuasive, at his high point, even as it addresses the dark and obscene corners of the imagination, and the baser instincts of American power.

"The Time of Our Time" again makes us consider his entire career through Mailer's filter, and understandably, it can be aggravating for someone expecting an easy in to the body of work. But it gives us the rewards, with generous selections form his best work, "Naked and the Dead", Armies of the Night", "Executioner's Song"," An American Dream"--and like wise long excerpts from slighter efforts, like "Gospel According to the Son" and his recent Picasso biography. What there is an impressive reach over the five decades that he's been in the public eye, an early brashness turning into a combative and provocative brilliance that at times trips over it's own eloquence that later turned into thoughtful, epic scale story telling through which the previous ego centric prose vanished behind the tragedy writ in the Gary Gilmore saga.

It's difficult not to be impressed with the range of Mailer's topics, in fiction, journalism, and essays! --World War 2 in the Pacific, Moon Landings, Black power, Women's Rights, Hunting, Reichian sexuality, the failure of Marxism, The Kennedy Assassination, Ancient Egypt, masculinity and American Literature, the dread of Modern architecture, the real meaning of the right wing, Boxing--and while Mailer at times seems breathless and throat clearing in his writing, that he's spreading a style too thin to cover the feeling that he's , for the moment, is bereft of anything interesting to say, you note the way he changes tact, changes styles, and ushers in another period of solid books that stand as his strongest." The Time of Our Time" provides an over long reflection of a career that has been victim of the author's proclaimed desire to be the champ of his generation, but it also gives us a chance to appreciate a brilliant talent that found expression in spite of Mailer's the self-annihilating quirks.

Controversial, problematic, self-absorbed, but quintessentially American, and one of the best witnesses we could have had for the second half of the century

whilst researching my doctorate on hidden narratives in the post-war american novel ('mailer: muscles and martinis. the phallus behind the text') i came across nigel leigh's extraordinary book, radical fictions.. leigh accesses a part of mailer that few academics have ever touched. his grasp of the subject is breathtaking. i understand that leigh is working on another book. a masterwork that has taken ten years to write. when this finally finds the light of day, be assured i will be first in line to buy it. Just one minor criticism of radical fictions... why is there no photo of leigh!

This is one of the best books I have read this year. As an academic, my studies are usually dry and dull, but Leigh's provocative yet balanced analysis of Mailer is as refreshing as it is informative. It is neither high falutin' nor "hoity toity".And it's certainly improved my view of this controversial writer.

I am certainly mighty curious to know more about Nigel Leigh after having read this wonderfully teasing book....it sure was provocative. Let me tell you - I lent it to fellow agricultural workers here in Redcreek Falls, Louisiana and it caused something of a sensation! One question was on everyone's lips ...has Nigel Leigh written anything else. His style is at once masterful and authoritative...boy, I knew my place after I'd finished reading! Well done Mr Leigh!

This is the most comprehensive book on the " Rumble in the jungle" one can hope to get. The beauty of the book is that unlike other biographies it never loses it's touch with reality. The accurately described scenes in Ali's training camp and Ali's frustration with having to train, the boredom that a prize fighter goes through while training are all aptly revealed . Ali's psyche has been explored as in no other book. The author has also given his own brilliant account of the country that the fight took place in, Zaire. This book also has many of those things that weren't concentrated upon in "When we were kings", like the fact that Ali didn't train as hard for this fight as most fighters do for a heavyweight championship but instead was banking on his clever tricks to secure victory for himself. After reading this book, the reader would like to watch "When we were kings" again to have a better understanding of the movie, as he or she would have a greater knowledge of the events and the persons involved in the drama. Norman's deep insight of the boxing world can be gauged from the thoughts he has when he is wathcing Muhmmad Ali celebrate after his victory, "In the privacy of his bathroom, doubtless he will wince and piss blood. That is the price after many a fight. It was his pride of course to show none of this." Unlike most other white writers of his time, Norman understands and feels what makes Ali tick. The reader is taken into the thought provoking world of Ali's attitude and reason-towards his people, his religion, his profession, his opponents and his friends. All in all, this book is for anybody who is a boxing fan or a Muhammad Ali fan.

This book is a must read for fans of boxing and Muhammed Ali. Mailer brings the "Rumble in the Jungle" to life. When describing Ali's miraculous return from the dead and his role in creating the African American identity, Mailer is at his best. Something much more important than a boxing match took place. Mailer fills it with symbolism, insight and love.

This was my first experience with Norman Mailer and it certainly will not be my last. The Fight paints beautiful portraits of many of the characters, events, and locations that surrounded The Rumbe in The Jungle of 1975. His eye for detail and incredible descriptive ability made this a wonderful read. More important to boxing fans, however, is that his actual recount of the fight itself may be the single best piece of boxing writing I have ever read--it was better than watching the real thing and Mailer somehow makes the reader feel like he is both a ringside spectator and one of the combatants at the same time (a strange experience, but certainly one worth having). This book is an excellent companion to When We Were Kings and the actual video of the fight, both of which are sold by Amazon. Another interesting contrast is provided by David Remnick's King of the World, which details the months leading up to Ali's first championship fight against Sonny Liston. Ali evolved a great deal between 1964 when he was still a young, scared Cassius Clay and 1975 when he had become an older, wiser, though no less enthusiastic champion. The Fight is a great book, a must have for all boxing fans and certainly worthy of any reader who enjoys excellent character development, action, and terrific writing.

Norman Mailer's book is easily the best of the more than one hundred true crime books I've ever read. The story of Gary Gilmore & Nicole Baker reads like a warped American Romeo & Juliet at times, albeit a white trash version of sorts. When all was said and done, Gilmore had spent 18 of his 36 years institutionalized in one form or another. So Gary fought the state of Utah when they sentenced him to death in 1976. The twist is that he had to fight to make them follow through with their threat. Gilmore, as well as anyone, knew what prison was like and that he wanted nothing more to do with that kind of life.

This is one of the feww 1,000+ page books that left me wanting more when it was over. Mailer had access to virtually everyone necessary to pull off this monumental undertaking. The narrative is basically stripped of needless frills and the author's opinions are held in check beautifully when you consider the inflammatory nature of the subject matter. Mailer also does an admirable job of allowing Gilmore's victims to appear as human beings, not merely as props used by Gilmore to achieve immortality and release.

This book has the potential to spark debate on a variety of newsworthy issues, such as prison reform, victim's rights, incarceration vs. education, the death penalty as a deterrent, right to die, etc.. Gilmore's case was remarkable in regard to American Justice as we now know it. Gilmore himself was a complex and fascinating individual with underdeveloped emotional control and virtually no social skills to speak of. He developed into adulthood in legal institutions and was woefully unprepared for life outside prison walls.

Mailer does not flinch or miss a single beat. He simply tells the story of Gary Gilmore and the story of the lives touched and/or destroyed by Gilmore. He does not take any obvious liberties to fit the story to match his own beliefs. I was not a Mailer fan until I read this book. It is one of the five best books I have ever had the priveldge of reading.

The movie of the same title did Gilmore a serious injustice. Yes, he was certainly a thief and a murderer, there's no overlooking that, but he was also an extremely intelligent and artistic man. I also recommend reading Shot In The Heart, by Mikal Gilmore(Gary's younger brother). It is a beautifully written book that fills in a lot of blanks and generally helps to complete the Gilmore story.

I first read the Executioner's Song several years ago and was fascinated by it then. I have just read it again and the same holds true now. Nothing that I have ever read before compares with this book.
The true account of Gary Gilmore and those who's lives he forever affected will leave you literally haunted. The true story of one man's attempt to reintroduce himself into society after half a lifetime locked away in the prison system only to commit double murder a short time after he is out of prison. And his personal battle to make the State of Utah execute him only nine months after he was let out of prison is a tragic and gripping portrayal of American History.
Norman Mailer's delivery of this story is more like a window into the actual lives of Gary Gilmore and his girlfriend Nicole. It's not like your reading a book but rather being transported into their realm. I at times found myself completely depressed when reading certain parts of the book. I had to put it down for a time because it was upsetting. The book contains themes that deal with religion, sexual abuse, human rights, the law, suicide, love, and manipulation just to name a few.
I came away with the sense that I knew these people intimately. that I knew their friends and family members.I was caught up in the inner turmoil of the ill fated lovers Gary and Nicole. The last half of the book chronicals the lives of the lawyers, people who worked for the ACLU, and others who become involved with Gary. At times there are so many people involved in the circus like atmosphere that surrounds the case that you easily forget who is who.But this book is based on reality and these people all played a part in the case. Some large and some small.
This book is a keeper for one's bookshelf. An outstanding piece of American Literature from a gifted writer.

Having read more than 150 true crime books, I feel qualified to tell you that Norman Mailer has written the finest, by far, tome of the genre. The story of Gary Gilmore and Nicole Baker reads, at times, like a white trash Romeo & Juliet. The movie of the same title did a great injustice to Gary Gilmore. Yes, he was a thief and a murderer, but he was also an extremely intelligent and artistic man. Gilmore ended up spending 18 of his 36 years institutionalized in one form or another, so when the state of Utah sentenced him to die in 1976 Gary fought to make them follow through with their threat. He, as well as anyone, knew what prison was like and that he wanted no more of that kind of life. This is one of the only 1,000+ page books that left me wanting more when it was over. Mailer had access to nearly everyone needed to pull off this monumental undertaking. The narrative is stripped of frills and the author's opinions are held in check beautifully when you consider the inflammatory nature of the subject matter. Mailer also does an admirable job of letting Gilmore's victims appear as human beings, not merely as the props used by Gilmore to achieve immortality and release. This book has the potential to spark debate on a variety of issues that still make headlines today, such as prison reform, incartceration v. education, the death penalty as a deterrent, right to die. Gilmore's case was monumental in regard to American justice. Gilmore himself was a complex and fascinating individual with underdeveloped emotional control and no social skills to speak of. He was taught how to be an adult in institutions. Mailer does not flinch or miss a single beat. He tells the story of Gary Gilmore and the lives that Gilmore touched and/or destroyed. He does not take any obvious liberties to fit the story to his own beliefs. I was not a fan of Mailer until I read this book. It is one of the top five books I have ever had the privilege of reading.

All during the 1960s, when authors still appeared on The Tonight Show, The Dick Cavett Show, etc, the two authors who had the most exposure and most proclaimed their "genius" were Norman Mailer and Truman Capote. Both fizzled miserably. Their dwindling fame will be filed under "Celebrity" rather than "Literature." Mailer is the better of the two, but he has not worn well.

Originally appearing in 1959, "Advertisements for Myself" remains one of the most unusual books ever published by a novelist. Containing stories, essays, reviews, interviews, novel excerpts and poems, all with detailed, italicized annotations courtesy of the author, this book displays a massive, raging talent assessing itself and the world around it. It is sometimes poignant, sometimes maddening, but never less than compelling. I love this book.

Today, Mailer's reputation is rather up in the air. To me, his career is an example of an artist constantly pushing himself, writing with breathtaking ambition even if it exceeded his skill. There has never been another writer like Norman Mailer, and it is touching to read here of his desire to write a novel on the level of Dostoyevsky, Mann and Tolstoy, and to read his pithy, sometimes hilarious assessments of his contemporaries. His commentary on the ups and downs of his career and his disgust and sadness about the decline of American literature are illuminating, but his self-aggrandizement and egocentricity are often difficult to stomach. However, one has to stand in awe at the monument of his talent and his passion.

Reading this book today, one has to ask, "Did he fulfill his expectations?" I think so. "Harlot's Ghost," "Ancient Evenings," "The Executioner's Song" and numerous other works, both fiction and nonfiction, will endure, in my opinion. But I, for one, would like to know whatever happened to the self-promoted masterpiece of a novel he excerpts here. The small sections make for very stimulating reading.

All in all, "Advertisements for Myself" is a required text for everyone who loves great literature or aspires to write it for themselves.

Advertisements for Mysel

Peter Levenda's _Unholy Alliance_ is at once a tale of adventure and intrigue and a useful source of information on the occult origins of Nazism. Much has been made of these occult beginnings and developments which led to the creation of Hitler's Third Reich and which have continued after its downfall in various forms of NeoNazism. In this book, Peter Levenda examines these occult aspects of Nazism from its early development in the Thule Society and among individuals such as Guido von List, Lanz von Liebenfels, and Rudolf von Sebottendorf to Nazi psychics up until the present day in which Satanism and other such dark forces have combined with Nazi occultism. Levenda rightly contends that Hitler himself was not overly influenced by occult ideas (contrary to the thesis put forth in _The Spear of Destiny_) despite his youthful readings of von Liebenfel's notorious magazine, "Ostara". However, according to Levenda the magical and occult aspects of Nazism cannot be denied. Levenda considers Nazism to be a sort of cult with an all powerful leader ("Der Fuehrer"). Much of the material in this book as far as the early roots of Nazism is available from other sources especially _The Occult Roots of Nazism_ by Nicholas Goodrick-Clark. However, Levenda provides new material in his examination of Nazi psychics, including Hanussen, his thorough discussion of the Ahnenerbe Society, his explanation of the Tibet expedition which has not previously been covered by other authors in this field, and his discussions of the notorious madman Aleister Crowley. In fact, a great deal of this book focuses on the shenanigans of Aleister Crowley but also discusses the roots of many German secret societies in the Theosophical Society of the medium Madame H. P. Blavatsky. The most interesting discussion in this book however is that of the survival of the Nazi cult in various manifestations particularly in South America. The far reaches of the tentacles of the Nazi octopus can be seen in the trail of Rudolf Hess, where he claims that he was being mind-controlled by various psychiatrists working for the Allied Powers. This is one among hundreds of bizarre instances involving the captured Nazi elite. The escaped Nazis may have traveled to South America via various underground channels. Individuals such as Klaus Barbie and Martin Bormann as well as the infamous physician, Dr. Josef Mengele, may have traveled to South America and survived in hiding under different aliases and involving themselves with various occult movements and lodges. The nation of Chile appears to be particularly likely to be infested with NeoNazis according to Levenda. Among others the occult writer and Chilean diplomat Miguel Serrano has written praising Hitler. Levenda himself investigated the secret Nazi center, the infamous "Colonia Dignidad", in Chile. This mysterious colony is run by the self-described "Baptist" zealot, Dr. Ernst Schafer, with unproven ties to Nazism. While in Chile, Levenda encountered this mysterious Nazi colony and barely managed to escape alive (luckily a report involving the statute of limitations on Nazi war crimes was being reviewed that day which may have allowed his escape). Rumors of mysterious deaths, torture, sexual abuse of children, and the practice of the black arts combining traditional Voodoo ritual with Nazi occultism have spread about the infamous "Colonia Dignidad". Whatever exactly this colony consists of, it is certainly not a wholesome affair. In the last full chapter in this book, Levenda turns his attention to NeoNazism. In particular, he examines the question of Nazi Satanism (taking a look at such organizations as the former National Renaissance Party) as well as the phenomenon of Nazi Skinheads. Nazi Satanists appear to base their rites off of those performed by the ultimate black magician and Reichsfuehrer of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, which he performed in his mysterious castle, Wewelsburg. Levenda makes some decent comparisons and analysis of Nazism and the Satanic abduction scare (in which he compares such mass murderers as Charles Manson with Nazi occultism and Satanic practices). Ultimately, upon finishing this book, it is clear to the reader that the Nazis were indeed based on an occult system of practice. While I dislike the idea that this was some form of neopaganism, it is more likely a restoration of the Gnostic heresy and a revolt against the Catholic Church, Christianity, and the Semitic religions. Levenda is unfortunately too harsh on the Catholic Church in this respect giving into many modernist and liberal biases. It is a fact that the Church tried to protect many individuals from the evils of Nazism and its death camps, despite whatever else certain of its members may have done. Also, the case against Pope Pius XII's involvement with Nazism is certainly far from being resolved in my mind at least. I believe Nazism constitutes a form of modern day Satanism and its ties to black magic and evil forms of occultism and degeneracy are all too apparent.

Also recommended: _The Morning of the Magicians_ by Pauwels and Bergier and _The Occult Roots of Nazism_ by Nicholas Goodrick-Clark.

In this readable but thoroughly researched survey of the mythic/religio/occult ideologies that formed the basis of the Nazi movement, in UNHOLY ALLIANCE, the author has succeeded in making a dense, fact-laden topic spanning hundreds of years accessible to the non-specialist reader without sacrificing accuracy. This is probably the most thorough treatment of Nazi occult ideology in English, and where it surpasses similar works is that it continues documenting neo-Nazi survivals right up to the present. Anyone who doubts Levenda's thesis that the end of WWII only changed, rather than ended, the Nazi movement, need only check the unblushing anti-Semitism of some of the other reviews here.

Writers exploring the occult and its many flamboyant personalities frequently fall into either reflexive debunking or starstruck gullibility. While the author has done plenty of first-hand investigation, even getting into the Chilean Nazi enclave Colonia Dignidad during the Pinochet years, he succeeds in giving us a clear-eyed, even-handed view.

The Norman Mailer Foreword to this edition is an unexpected plus, a fine essay on metaphysics, occultism, and current events that gave this reader, who has always considered the enormous Mailer canon a mixed bag, a pleasant surprise: Mailer has a number of deeply insightful things to say about magic and the occult. Mailer says he's read UNHOLY ALLIANCE three times--once more than I have, though my first edition is a bit ragged from the many times I've also used it as a quick reference.

UNHOLY ALLIANCE belongs on the bookshelf of anyone with a serious interest in WWII, extremist religio-political ideologies of all descriptions, modern Roman Catholic history, or any branch of occultism. Thanks to excellent source notes and an index, it's a fine reference work that--a rare bonus in this field--is also a great read. The author's update to this new edition was obviously written post-September 11, and is a good, if somewhat sketchy, summary of developments since its original publication. One would wish Levenda could have had more space to explore the similarities between Nazi occultism and the current crop of terrorists in greater detail, but this is a very small quibble about an otherwise splendid work.

Reading the last few reviews of Unholy Alliance, I am struck by the fact that both reviewers are unapologetic anti-Semites. I guess everyone's entitled to their opinion, but they have misrepresented some of the facts. I only find a single reference to Tom Metzger in the book, and the author nowhere states that Metzger was a "rune master", whatever that is, only that his newsletter used to be a forum for pagan and Odinist views. I think that's correct. As for Hitler not being an occultist, the author states very clearly that Hitler was not a member of any occult group, but that he was fascinated by Lanz von Liebenfels, something that is well-documented, and was a protege of Dietrich Eckart. In fact, the entire book is well-documented with sources (from the Captured German Documents Section at the National Archives, among other places) that you won't find other places, and the author even gives microfilm roll numbers so anyone -- even an anti-Semite! -- can go to the Archives and look up the relevant documents themselves with ease. While one of the reviewers is an admirer of Goodrick-Clarke (who also writes about the occult background of the Third Reich), he does not like Unholy Alliance. I think the problem is that Unholy Alliance also focuses on modern survivals of Nazism in North and South America and takes a good hard look at groups like Metzger's, something that Goodrick-Clarke does not do (even though his books are excellent). Unholy Alliance puts it all in one place; and the author risked his life investigating Colonia Dignidad in Chile, a place where others were not so lucky to escape (an American math professor was taken to the Colony a few years AFTER the author, and tortured and killed as reported in the NY Times), and was personally acquainted with James Madole and Roy Frankhouser, all notorious racists and neo-Nazis. To attack the book because of a single reference on a single page to Metzger seems strange. And although the reviewer claims to have been a friend of Metzger since 1978, it is obvious that the author of Unholy Alliance has also been in the field at least that long (his trip to Chile was in 1979 for instance).

So, I think the book is worth a look by Nazis and anti-Nazis alike. Both will discover a wealth of information about the SS Ahnenerbe and its bizarre Tibet Expedition, about Otto Rahn and the search for the Grail, and about a host of other things that few other books have bothered to document as thoroughly.

I read this book 29 years after the event. I had high expectations because I had never read Mailer before and I've always been interested in science history and space and have read a number of books about and by astronauts. It was like Mailer wasn't there, he missed most of the important stuff because he felt beneath himself acting as a "journalist" instead of a "writer". Significant events & issues like running out of fuel at the last minute, or the computer geek who saved the mission at the last minute, the story behind the famous quote "one small step for [a] man..." were completely missed because he spent all the time telling us why he didn't want to write the story.

Over 30 years after that glorious summer, its a shock to realise that a tired and jaded novelist described the mission and the technical accomplishment best. Short of money and only just coming to terms with an awful flirtation with politics, this is Mailer's most under-rated and forgotten book.

Its roughly divided into three parts; a deeply personal (egotistic?) description of the weeks leading up to the launch itself; a much larger description of the science and engineering of the Apollo Saturn spacecraft; and a weaker final section attempts to put the event into some kind of social and historical context. This last section is the most dated - remember you're reading an absolutely contemporary account here - the Apollo missions were still on-going when the book was published in 1970-71.

America became bored with space travel, and Mailer (with astonishing foresight) detects and describes the causes - the remorseless banality of the astronauts, and the fearsomely conformist culture of NASA itself.

Overall this is a great book, it has stood the test of time very well, and its a great starting point for anyone interested in the moon landing. Its high time for a reprint and new introduction by the author - and lets thank him for a well written and very honest account of what may be (for historians) the most important event of 20th century, bar none.

I did not read this book until a few years ago but I did witness the events and the moon landing itself on TV as a child. The simplest way for me to express my feelings about this book are try to imagine witnessing a great event and being unable to put it into words. When Mailer describes the take off and the climactic events preceding the landing on the moon it is awe inspiring and I guarantee your pulse will quicken. If you are like me and still fascinated by space and that period of space exploration I urge you to read it.

Norman Mailer has bellowed faithfully, and strategically, for over half a century. In fact, he was actually the first Jesse Jackson, insinuating himself into every possible squirmish of national import. If you're anything like me, you may have given him far too much credit in your misguided youth -- i.e., "Can't really follow this guy's logic, but that's my fault, that I am an underling."
If you have not yet recovered from your college indoctrination, and if you (like the author himself) are transported by explorations of, by, and for Norman Mailer, you've got to have this book.
If you'd rather not worship at the master's feet, go elsewhere. Read something by a real writer, for example GATES OF FIRE, by the fabulous Greek scholar, Stephen Pressfield.

-

Mailer's latest is, as some reviews have charged, a bit scattershot, but that's part of the attraction: you can open it anywhere and enjoy, based on length, based on interest at the moment, or, using the well considered index (a very nice touch to an anthology of essays), based on the question around which you may be currently dabbling.

I do not find Mailer at all arrogant, forward yes, but not arrogant; and the forward personality, aside from having been so often prophetic, seems just that, a character aspect - defect or quality - a function of the overwound compulsion, naked, chin forward, almost looking for a roundhouse on his own choppers: it is honest. A rare commodity these days, either in politics or literature.

Mailer has survived the postmodernist internecine cannibalism, actually says decent things about the competition (eg Vidal, Bellow), and wrings true on his regrets about today's literature failing to set the milieu in the larger sense as did the great novelists in the past. He does not ascribe the shortcoming to the distractions and seduction of electronic media alone, but looks instead at the most likely candidates for having achieved that larger representation, critically, but respectfully. And when one begins to survey the variety and grandness of Mailer's own various projects over the years, and set that against his sharing of self doubts and confessions of both modest beginnings and premature celebrity, a deeper respect for the larger sense of the whole to which the man has, in retrospect, evolved becomes, cumulatively, unavoidable in the fair-minded eye.

If nothing else, you feel the sense of world-concerned angst, acceptance of a "writer's responsibility," and inevitable sleeve-worn values and self-exposing vulnerability. You feel the paradoxical solitariness of a steaming writer holed away to write while vividly invested in the world around him. He makes you feel in his own temperature the danger and excitement and doubts and frustrations of his brand of wrestling with his metier. Elsewhere as he talks about the writer-reader relationship, you discover for your first time that this headlong writer, this runaway pace of his voice, actually rides often better for the reader at slower, more deliberate speeds: that his stylistic and logical structures wring then more considerately taken, wear more deeply and thicker woven.

No, Mailer won't go away. Despite the hopeful assessments of many. For one thing, his driven tone, its urgency, is too contemporary. He wields an unexpected quasi confirmation as he indulges historic referents in consideration of the American literary past, almost refreshingly earnestly childlike in its respect in this day of now. But more, the sheer volumetric range of his esthetic, cultural, and political scans is too large, and the socially grounded roots of his positions too perceptively and morally deep-set.

In the closing pages of "Spooky Art" Mailer muses further whether one can think of this or that age without that or this writer and offers his defensible candidates from the past, a Stendahl here, a Tolstoy there. But he fears it is doubtful that any such "necessary" ligature of time and place and author could be confidently asserted for some single figure in ours. Still, thinking over the possible list of publicly known candidates, perhaps one could find no better argument for these last 50-plus USA years than in Mailer's nomination, however futile the gesture in itself may or may not be.

Mailer does not discuss technique or craft in detail. He offers insights of an inspirational, philosophic nature on writing. He's interesting even when he rambles, and the book is full of aphorisms that are encouraging and incisive. The book is worthwhile. It's the thinking and advice of one of the Twentieth Century's literary masters about his field of expertise. There's also plenty of advice about fields beyond his expertise, but Mailer eventually makes it all relevant to writing and, more important, to living the kind of life he feels necessary to produce great or very good writing. Mailer is like a great coach in this book, inciting the reader to be braver, to work harder, to want more, to cultivate appetite and a certain recklessness that is an antidote to what he calls the "paranoid perfection" imbued by writing programs. I think Anne Lamott's Bird By Bird is a kinder, gentler counterbalance to Stormin' Norman's inspiring hectoring to step up to the plate--in life and in writing--and is also an excellent book on writing. Where Lamott is compassionate, gentle, a chamomile tea-offering, hand-holding tutor, Mailer is a grizzled veteran exhorting us to throw ourselves into the mix, to take chances, to aspire to more than we may ever achieve. Good advice from someone who's lived it, and produced some of the most influential writing of the last century.

Mailer is always entertaining -- no matter whether you agree or disagree with him.

Oswald's Tale presents a new take on Lee Harvey Oswald. Here is the approach: What if Lee Harvey Oswald was not some incomprehensible (no-talent) societal outcast, but rather, a somewhat talented loser who had great skill in jerking around bureaucratic systems? As evidence of this thesis -- LHO was able to defect to the USSR and then get back to the U.S. Not really an easy task.

Could such a man successfully kill a president and NOT be part of a larger conspiracy? Perhaps...

And what about those conspiracy theories? Mailer gives a few plausible insights into why some the of the evidence of conspiracy may be happenstance and wishful thinking.

It is completely unfulfiling and base to think that our president was killed by some dispossessed nobody. From this springs our need to find a dark conspiracy. Perhaps LHO was of large enough stature (be it negative) to be considered man enough to have done it alone. Perhaps...

Entertaining and worth reading. Mailer does not answer the questions, he just asks them. And quite well.

The profile of Marina Oswald is to die for. You read about her and wonder what it would be like to actually be the world's most notorious bystander.

We have to give old Mailer credit for changing his mind about JFK conspiracies as he learned more about Lee Oswald through Russian documents and acquaintances. It is clear that Mailer began this book thinking that Oswald was not a lone assassin. In fact, one could swear that others helped Mailer write this because of the obvious change in styles and conclusions. But after all his unfolding of Oswald's history, he came to the conclusion that Oswald did it, in a similar mood as when he tried to assassinate General Walker six months early. Only Mailer could help the public recognize how sexual and career frustration and jealousy of the President accounted for his murder. This review is submitted by a psychologist who helped assess General Edwin Walker in Dallas some months before the assassination.

Mailer is a skilled writer and thanks to him being allowed access to thousands of KGB surveillance files compiled on Lee Oswald he is able to paint an almost human picture of Oswald's time in Russia and one almost forgets the crime he is accused of commiting.

I do believe though that the charting of Oswald's life when he returns to the USA is perhaps tainted by the opinions of people who did not have any respect for him prior to his infamousy and this may be why the book cannot be wholly trusted as a truthful study.

Furthermore, he relies too heavily on the work of Pricilla Johnson, the biographer who had met Oswald in Moscow and became a so-called confidante to Marina Oswald after the assasination, a friendship she exploited to write a best selling story of Marina's time with Oswald.

Clearly, Marina does not know what she believes as over the years her account of life with Oswald has changed as often of as the weather.

Mailer himself does try to keep away from the controversy surrounding Oswald's possible guilt and gives little away as to what his own opinion is in this matter.

For this reason he does redeem the book coming across as a genuine story teller in this regard.

In Mailer's own words the subject remains as great a mystery as it was all those years ago.

Worth buying to read about Oswald's time in Russia.