Norman Mailer Books

Essays and Interviews with and by Norman Mailer covering the decade 1970-1980

Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead is not just a monumental war novel but also a devastating antiwar novel, exposing the primal nature of power through the interplay of a platoon of soldiers on an impossible and ultimately pointless mission on an obscure island in the Pacific during World War II. Written just after the war ended, in the early days of the emerging Cold War, the novel daringly engages with the authoritarian impulses in the American character

An essential guide to the life and work of one of America's most controversial writers, Advertisements for Myself is a comprehensive collection of the best of Norman Mailer's essays, stories, interviews and journalism from the Forties and Fifties, linked by anarchic and riotous autobiographical commentary. Laying bare the heart of a witty, belligerent and vigorous writer, this manifesto of Mailer's key beliefs contains pieces on his war experiences in the Philippines (the basis for his famous first novel The Naked and the Dead), tributes to fellow novelists William Styron, Saul Bellow, Truman Capote and Gore Vidal and magnificent polemics against pornography, advertising, drugs and politics. Also included is his notorious exposition of the phenomenon of the 'White Negro', the Beat Generation's existentialist hero whose life, like Mailer's, is 'an unchartered journey into the rebellious imperatives of the self'.

Since 1976 Joel Meyerowitz has been photographing the view from his house on Cape Cod Bay in Provincetown. This is the culmination of these years of photographic exploration and observation, featuring 40 colour images of this juncture of sea and sky, taken during all hours of the day, from first light to dusk and beyond. Five of the photos appeared in Meyerowitz's book "Cape Light", and over the years the bay/sky photography has developed into a recurring and central motif of his work.

By general consensus, Pablo Picasso is the most brilliant and influential artist of this century, yet he has eluded critics and remains a complex figure. His macho demeanor and diverse styles create a barrier for those seeking to understand him. In this biography, Norman Mailer, another legendary artist, attempts to delve into Picasso's enigmatic mind and capture the essence of his life and art. Mailer critiques existing interpretations and brings readers closer to the young Picasso, focusing on his first great love, Fernande Olivier, with whom he lived for seven years. This relationship coincided with Picasso's most revolutionary works, from the innovations of Les Demoiselles d'Avignon to the mysteries of Cubism. Mailer emphasizes the importance of understanding Picasso through his connection to Fernande, who is given a voice through excerpts from her previously unpublished memoirs. Additionally, the narrative highlights Picasso's friendships with Apollinaire and Gertrude Stein, painting a vivid picture of the bohemian life in early 1900s Paris. Through this exploration, readers gain insight into the personal and artistic influences that shaped one of history's most iconic artists.

Gathers essays written during the sixties by such people as Norman Mailer, Marshall McLuhan, Tom Wolfe, Eldridge Cleaver, and others about the changes in art, politics, and the media during that decade

Exploring the aftermath of the 1968 upheaval, this collection showcases the writings of America's most influential literary provocateur, capturing the essence of a turbulent decade. Through powerful prose and thought-provoking insights, the author reflects on societal changes, cultural shifts, and the enduring impact of that era. The book serves as both a historical account and a commentary on the complexities of modern America, revealing how the echoes of the past continue to resonate today.

The author tells the tale of a fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaïre, in 1975, for which each fighter was paid five millions dollars

In what is arguably his greatest book, America's most heroically ambitious writer follows the short, blighted career of Gary Gilmore, an intractably violent product of America's prisons who became notorious for two reasons: first, for robbing two men in 1976, then killing them in cold blood; and, second, after being tried and convicted, for insisting on dying for his crime. To do so, he had to fight a system that seemed paradoxically intent on keeping him alive long after it had sentenced him to death.Norman Mailer tells Gilmore's story--and those of the men and women caught up in his procession toward the firing squad--with implacable authority, steely compassion, and a restraint that evokes the parched landscapes and stern theology of Gilmore's Utah. The Executioner's Song is a trip down the wrong side of the tracks to the deepest sources of American loneliness and violence. It is a towering achievement--impossible to put down, impossible to forget.