Red Room Where the Writers Are

Review Excerpt:

Armies of the night, The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and/or On the Campaign Trail '72 are all enduring books, capturing the 1960's period from ground level, with insight, wit, and with the emotional immediacy of the era to draw the reader into its history. Norman Mailer, one of the best authors of his generation, at that time, found his deepest strength as a writer in the "New Journalism." Several authors take credit for inventing the style, but its a style, where the author becomes a main part of the story, that's been with us for some time. I'm sure anyone at Red Room can find early examples. In the 20th Century, Hemingway comes to mind with Green Hills of Africa or Death in the Afternoon. And as you go back you'll find earlier examples. But Truman Capote, Norman Mailer, Hunter Thompson, Tom Wolf excelled in making the genre a recognizable nonfiction genre. (The downside is that the genre gave birth to the true crime genre, which often borders purely on the exploitative.) Armies of the Night is about the Yippie assault on the Pentagon, and the cult of celebrity the antiwar movement attracted. (Tom Wolf successfully tackles celebrity activists in Radical Chic.)Norman Mailer and Robert Lowell decide to cross the police line at the antiwar protest staged at the Pentagon, believing they'll be arrested and released. A sort of in by nine and out by five, so that they can fly back down to New York and make a cocktail party. Instead, Mailer, as was his wont, just makes things worse for for himself. He becomes a metaphor what is ailing America. Armies is a must read for anyone of or interested in the sixties or political activism.