The Armies of the Night: History As a Novel/the Novel As History

Rating:
Summary: The novelist as central actor on the stage of history
Review: The novelist places himself in center stage. He writes of the March on Washington in protest of the Vietnam War as if he were a major character. He writes with a great sweep and strength almost as if he had recaptured the power once present when he wrote his first published novel. But of course there is no way he cannot let his own generous capacity for grandiose grandstanding not come into the picture. Still all things considered it is no doubt one of his best books. And it is one which gives a broad- lens picture of the Anti- War movements various components .
Mailer is very good here, and the book does record a moment in the history of the great republic. But it is necessary to be wary of the author's various theories of power in American life.
This is a man who can write so wonderfully at times, but is also capable of tremendous nonsense.
Let the reader judge where this is outstanding, and where it should never have been written.

Rating:
Summary: political humor? or hell for a reader
Review: the writing of this book in a 3rd person view was a bad enough idea, but the story itself is boring, he takes 30 pages to explain speeches he makes, blah!

Rating:
Summary: Give me a break.
Review: This should be called "Norman Mailer's Midlife Crisis." While some of his observations are interesting, they're not interesting enough to make it worth listening to all his whining.

Rating:
Summary: Mailer Does It Again
Review: Those of you who are already familiar with the work of Norman Mailer don't need much of an introduction to the man who could perhaps be the most transcendant egoist of the century. For those of you who haven't read Mailer, know this: he writes unlike anyone of his peers, he can turn a phrase as well as Fitzgerald, he is a profound and unusual thinker, and has a great sense of humor.

In this, the book that won him his first Pulitzer Prize, Mailer gives us what he likes to think of as two books. First comes "History As A Novel," in which Mailer describes his experience (in the third person) participating in the largest anti-Vietnam War rally to have occured by 1967 when this book was published. In traditional fashion, a somewhat besotted Mailer makes rousing and unsettling remarks at a theater based event, lends his support to draft-card burners (actually, the group of protesters were to turn in their cards, rather than burn them), and walk in the historically significant march on the Pentagon. At the Pentagon, Mailer manages to get himself arrested (a goal he had previously set for himself), and spends the weekend in jail. He describes all of this with such wit and insight that Mailer himself becomes as much the subject matter as the march itself.

In the second book, "The Novel As History," Mailer gives us a historical perspective on the march and describes its genesis, reason for existance, movers and shakers, and then describes the march as it might have been seen by an unbiased reporter (although Mailer admits that no unbiased reports of this event could ever be given).

Mailer is an enjoyable author to read, as his utterly opinionated and iconoclastic personality cannot be kept apart from his subject matter, a fact that is all the more true for Armies of the Night. I was surprised how much self-awareness he actually posesses... writing in the third person allowed him to step outside himself and observe some of his more unusual personality traits.

You do not need a heavy interest in the Vietnam War to enjoy this book (although I suppose it may help)... all you need is your sympathy, intelligence, and sense of humor.

Rating:
Summary: Mailer Does It Again
Review: Those of you who are already familiar with the work of Norman Mailer don't need much of an introduction to the man who could perhaps be the most transcendant egoist of the century. For those of you who haven't read Mailer, know this: he writes unlike anyone of his peers, he can turn a phrase as well as Fitzgerald, he is a profound and unusual thinker, and has a great sense of humor.

In this, the book that won him his first Pulitzer Prize, Mailer gives us what he likes to think of as two books. First comes "History As A Novel," in which Mailer describes his experience (in the third person) participating in the largest anti-Vietnam War rally to have occured by 1967 when this book was published. In traditional fashion, a somewhat besotted Mailer makes rousing and unsettling remarks at a theater based event, lends his support to draft-card burners (actually, the group of protesters were to turn in their cards, rather than burn them), and walk in the historically significant march on the Pentagon. At the Pentagon, Mailer manages to get himself arrested (a goal he had previously set for himself), and spends the weekend in jail. He describes all of this with such wit and insight that Mailer himself becomes as much the subject matter as the march itself.

In the second book, "The Novel As History," Mailer gives us a historical perspective on the march and describes its genesis, reason for existance, movers and shakers, and then describes the march as it might have been seen by an unbiased reporter (although Mailer admits that no unbiased reports of this event could ever be given).

Mailer is an enjoyable author to read, as his utterly opinionated and iconoclastic personality cannot be kept apart from his subject matter, a fact that is all the more true for Armies of the Night. I was surprised how much self-awareness he actually posesses... writing in the third person allowed him to step outside himself and observe some of his more unusual personality traits.

You do not need a heavy interest in the Vietnam War to enjoy this book (although I suppose it may help)... all you need is your sympathy, intelligence, and sense of humor.

Rating:
Summary: The Armies of the Night
Review: Winner of the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for General-Non Fiction, Norman Mailer demonstrates his considerable skills of observation & insight: As Novelist, Historian, and Journalist in one book!

Necessary reading for understanding the United States of the 1960's, and perhaps the American psyche today, twenty something years later. Actually two books; History as a Novel, where he writes about himself intimately in the third-person. The second, The Novel as History, Mailer steps back and gives a more detached view of the 1967 march in Washington and its surrounding events.

Rating:
Summary: The Armies of the Night
Review: Winner of the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for General-Non Fiction, Norman Mailer demonstrates his considerable skills of observation & insight: As Novelist, Historian, and Journalist in one book!

Necessary reading for understanding the United States of the 1960's, and perhaps the American psyche today, twenty something years later. Actually two books; History as a Novel, where he writes about himself intimately in the third-person. The second, The Novel as History, Mailer steps back and gives a more detached view of the 1967 march in Washington and its surrounding events.