Rating: 
Summary: absorbing, explosive writing from great American novelist
Review: Always appreciate reading the other reviews from Mailer's right-wing detractors: great laugh, it really is, talking about ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH THE WRITING (mentioning unsavoury details about his private life - how noble and intelligent, as befits this pondlife trash). Anyway, the concept of this novel is a wonderful one, turning the history as novel and novel as history themes on their head. There are some great anecdotes here, with Mailer (writing what he knows, as all good writers do) uncompromisingly and combatively taking on the might of authority and Pentagon power. Memorable incidents include his being semi-drunk on stage at Washington's Ambassador theatre comparing himself to Lyndon B. Johnson's "dwarf altar-ego." The march itself, the subsequent arrest and his riding with the 'Armies of the Night' along America's broad, epic roads - the mass of people opposed to the War. Mailer's polemic is similarly spot-on - his prediction that "the biggest danger to Communism was Communism itself" is borne out by historical fact. This was predicted in 1967 - the USSR was never defeated militarily. Its collapse was due to the financial flws inherent in the system's structure - it could not economically sustain itself. It was, contrary to certain people, of little threat and was never defeated militarily. Mailer's prediction is exact, unfortunately not heeded by the denizens of his country's own political landscape. Another thing is that Mailer makes constant references to his fondness for America and its history. Always accused - like all great American artists - of despising the US, you criticise aspects of the country in order to prevent its abuse and perversion. This is because he loves the country, not because he hates it.
Rating: 
Summary: A Lousy Novel and Bad History
Review: Everyone knows Norman Mailer has a huge ego. Whining about it seems about as pointless as, say, gushing about the majesty of the Grand Canyon. But just as one cannot truly appreciate the granduer of the Grand Canyon until one has been there, one will never truly understand the phrase "Mailer is an egomaniac" until one reads this book, which inexplicably won the Pulitzer Prize.The title suggests a gonzo account of a pitched battle at the height of the war movement. But the book has very little description of the actual events of the 1967 anti-war march on Washington as it stays almost entirely in Mailer's head where his thoughts are often on more important topics such as whether he will make it home in time for a party, whether the reporters will quote him accurately (his biggest outrage of the weekend comes when a small newspaper describes him as "smiling wanly" at his arrest) and whether Robert Lowell respects him as a writer. The novel is good for laughs, however. Mailer is arrested without incident when he crosses a police line and spends a night in a minimum security jail cell with Noam Chomsky and a bunch of "college instructors," as Mailer disdainfully refers to his fellow protestors. Then for about a hundred and twenty pages Mailer attempts to write a Koestler-esque prison novel. Given his circumstances, a single night in a minimum security prison, it was about as ridiculous as wiriting "Crime and Punishment" about a traffic ticket. I recall laughing out loud as Mailer gruffly concludes the way to survive in prison is never to hope for anything. He spends five pages ruminating on the paltry reading selection and how prison is dulling is thoughts. (Imagine the hell had he been in for two nights.) The utter absence of anything resembling drama in the novel would not be as fatal a flaw in the hands of a writer with more competent powers of description. But Mailer is simply too impatient and philosophical and lazy a writer to pull off a Tom Wolfe-style account of the march. He remembers little of the details and seldom deigns to talk to any of the participants. His paranoia drives him away from his comrades as he fears that one of the spaced out college kids, despite all being big fans, will start a fight with him if he talks to them. (He does see fit, however, to record each time one of the kids accosts him to praise his work.) Mailer is even too standoffish to chat up Chomsky, though they are bunkmates. Instead we get three pages on the creases in his suit and necktie caused by the lack of hangers. The horror! Mailer's delusions provide additional fun. One of many such gems: He predicts the art film he has just finished directing, the collossal turkey "Bust 80" will be the "greatest police drama ever made." He also to a man sees all the "squares" that he comes in contact with, the prison guards, cops and marshals, as seething pots of insanity and hatred. That is the one thing that everyone on both sides of the march has in common: they all are harboring thoughts of bringing harm to the novelist/historian. Mailer is right to oppose the war in Vietnam, but his hodge podge of a rationale shows that he did so for the wrong reasons. Again, his paranoia gets the better of him as he proclaims America well on the road to becoming a totalitarian state, with Vietnam being only the first step. He also proclaims communism better than capitalism for the developing economies of Asia because he sees violence as the only tool for "ripping them away" from their peasant superstitions and into the 20th century. Higher paying jobs, I guess, wouldn't do the trick. While thoroughly ridiculous, "Armies of the Night" does give a somewhat fascinating and often humorous glimpse in the mind of America's most celebrated literary Falstaff of the 20th century.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for Baby Boomers only
Review: For those of us born after the events of October 21, 1967, the book is a disappointment. Mailer fails to offer better explanations of important characters that were icons of the late '60s. Since I was born after that, I have no inherent knowledge of the hippie idols, etc. In this 'history as novel', Mailer fails miserably at what most great novelist excel: character development.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent, excellent book
Review: I checked this book out from the public library because it was short and looked interesting. I found one of, if not the best book I have ever read. This gives an excellent account on the March on the Pentagon and is definitely worth reading. Buy it today.
Rating:
Summary: Should be required reading in history courses
Review: I was never around for the events that were described in this book, so I wasn't sure how I would react to them. I shouldn't have worried. Mailer describes everything perfectly in the best third person narration I've ever seen. The way he talks about himself and others is so objective at some times, brutally honest at others, that you wouldn't even know Mailer is writing the book. Of course, knowing that he is the author and that is saying some not very nice things about himself makes it even more fun. But the true character in this book is not Mailer but the American people, shown here in all their squalor and glory. Mailer treats everyone the same, from celeberties to the common protesters that he sees with their quiet bravery. Before this book, I had never heard of the march on the Pentagon, but after it I am quite certain that it was a pivotal moment in American history with repercussions beyond the Vietnam War, some which we can still feel today.
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps Mailer's Best
Review: If you dont like Mailer's syle at all, or even a little bit, stay away from this novel you unlucky people.Norman proves why he is the best writer in America by writing some of the best passages I have ever read within. The ending in which he compares America to pregnant mother astounded me. This book deserved the pulitzer. Also, Norman shows shows a greater understanding of America than anyone else i can think of.
Rating:
Summary: Mailer: a funny guy.
Review: Mailer has a really enjoyable ego, and a rather likeable personality. This book describes vividly a March on Washington in '67 against the Vietnam War, and the main character is Norman Mailer. (This book is written in the third person; an ingeneous way for Mailer to take shots at himself). Most interesting to me, being a rather apolitical person, was the way Mailer described his "image" as a being completely outside of himself, and how the character "Mailer" in the book can be seen as his image, while the Narrator can be seen as the real Mailer. That last bit may not make complete sense but anyhow this book has moments of vivid excitement, of feeling the slow painful movements of history unfolding, the "existential moment" as Mailer calls it, of doing something uprecedented and thus not having any idea of what will come of it. Unfortunately the prose shines only in patches and often i found myself skimming. This may be my fault, for though I like America and everything, i dont have the overwhelming enthusiasm and obsession for all things American that Mailer has. Nevertheless this is a really enjoyable read and Mailer, unlike most political people - and certainly unlike most "activists" both radical and conservative - can laugh at himself as well as those around him.
Rating:
Summary: Mailer: a funny guy.
Review: Mailer has a really enjoyable ego, and a rather likeable personality. This book describes vividly a March on Washington in '67 against the Vietnam War, and the main character is Norman Mailer. (This book is written in the third person; an ingeneous way for Mailer to take shots at himself). Most interesting to me, being a rather apolitical person, was the way Mailer described his "image" as a being completely outside of himself, and how the character "Mailer" in the book can be seen as his image, while the Narrator can be seen as the real Mailer. That last bit may not make complete sense but anyhow this book has moments of vivid excitement, of feeling the slow painful movements of history unfolding, the "existential moment" as Mailer calls it, of doing something uprecedented and thus not having any idea of what will come of it. Unfortunately the prose shines only in patches and often i found myself skimming. This may be my fault, for though I like America and everything, i dont have the overwhelming enthusiasm and obsession for all things American that Mailer has. Nevertheless this is a really enjoyable read and Mailer, unlike most political people - and certainly unlike most "activists" both radical and conservative - can laugh at himself as well as those around him.
Rating:
Summary: An account that's better than history, grander than fiction!
Review: Mailer's 1968 account of the march on the Pentagon is something of a great and sweeping read where all of Mailer's skittish brillance falls into place. With nearly every facet of the counter culture gathering in Washington DC to give voice the commanding idea that the Viet Nam War was a folly that is at heart evil --antiwar protestors, Yippies, Quakers, poets, beats, rock stars, various drugged out crazies, nuns and ministers--Mailer was the superb witness to the events as they unfolded. The book is cranky, spirited, rolling with the metahors and acid insights that the mature Mailer manages; he is a subtle and rich noticer of small things, bits of business, gestures, facial expressions. Indeed, "Armies of the Night" is as much a comedy of manners as it is literary journalism. The shrewd and blunt estimations of Robert Lowell and Dwight MacDonald are wonders of the whole-honed phrase.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: No writer is more versatile than Norman Mailer. No writer, living or dead, could write An American Dream AND The Executioner's Song AND Harlot's Ghost AND Ancient Evenings AND this book. What an astounding imagination.
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