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Buckley and Mailer

The Difficult Friendship That Shaped the Sixties

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Buckley and Mailer

By: Kevin Schultz
Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
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About this listen

Norman Mailer and William F. Buckley, Jr., were towering figures who argued publicly about every major issue of the 1960s: the counterculture, Vietnam, feminism, civil rights, the Cold War. Behind the scenes, the two were close friends and trusted confidantes who lived surprisingly parallel lives. In Buckley and Mailer, historian Kevin M. Schultz delves into their personal archives to tell the rich story of their friendship, arguments, and the tumultuous decade they did so much to shape.

From their Playboy-sponsored debate before the Patterson-Liston heavyweight fight in 1962 to their campaigns for mayor of New York City to their confrontations at Truman Capote's Black-and-White Ball, over the March on the Pentagon, and at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, Schultz delivers a fresh chronicle of the '60s and its long aftermath, as well as an entertaining work of narrative history that explores these extraordinary figures' contrasting visions of America and the future.

©2015 Kevin M. Schultz. Recorded by arrangement with W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. (P)2015 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books Authors Journalists, Editors & Publishers Politicians United States Vietnam War Equality Civil Rights

Critic Reviews

"One might think that Bill Buckley and Norman Mailer were not at all alike, but Kevin M. Schultz, in his very entertaining book, reminds us to think again. In fact, despite their complicated political differences, these two American originals liked each other, tried to understand each other, and discovered that that they had much in common: a passion for engagement, for literate expression, and perhaps above all the pleasure they took in playing their outsize selves." (Jeffrey Frank, best-selling author of Ike and Dick)
"Kevin M. Schultz has written a sexy, funny, and deliriously good book about two unlikeliest of friends. It will not only change the way that you see Buckley and Mailer, which would be accomplishment enough. It'll also change the way you understand the Sixties." (David Sehat, author of The Jefferson Rule)
"Riveting. In this superbly written account of two of the most fascinating and important 20th-century American intellectuals, Kevin M. Schultz not only brings the spirits of William Buckley and Norman Mailer back to life, he endows us with a subtle yet profound analytical framework for understanding the massive social changes set off during the Sixties. Anyone who wants to understand contemporary American political culture needs to read this book." (Andrew Hartman, author of A War for the Soul of America)

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Captures the essence of a decade

The story of two intellectual giants of their time, Buckley a suave conservative and Mailer a radical leftist. I enjoyed this book immensely, it pulls you into the world of the 1960s America and as it passes through immense changes, shattering events, protests, war, violence, excess and upheaval. Even if you didn’t know anything about either Buckley or Mailer I’m certain this would still be a fascinating listen.

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