Book reviews

The Armies of the Night
Norman Mailer Book Review

Read a book review online (click here to search reviews)
Books Movies  
Sci-Fi/Fantasy Mystery/Thriller Literature Romance Biography Video
Norman Mailer Books
New book search
Norman Mailer Message Board
Get more information about this book
Plot Summary of The Armies of the Night
""The Armies of the Night" is Norman Mailer's first hand account of the events surrounding the march on the Pentagon in Washington D.C. in the fall of 1967. He begins by quoting a news story from "Time" which speaks of his drunken behavior at an event the night before, and then goes on to say that he wants to tell what really happened. Essentially he explains his actions during that weekend as an attempt to wake people out of their lethargy about the war. He felt that even by antagonizing people, he would be helping to energize support for the anti-war movement. Other people involved in the march were Noam Chmosky, the linguist, Robert Lowell, the poet and Dwight MacDonald, the literary critic. The book, according to Mailer, applies the techniques of the novelist to the recounting of history.
"

Jack Goodstein, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of The Armies of the Night
Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Political/social rights fight Yes
Plotlet: - fighting for social change
Period of greatest activity? - 1950+

Subject of Biography
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - writer
Age: - 40's-50's
Biography of famous person? Yes
Ethnicity - White
Nationality - American (!)
How sensitive is this person? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other people

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 4 ()
United States Yes
The US: - Northeast
Century: - 1960's-1970's

Style
Person - mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
Book makes you feel? - challenged
Commentary on society? Yes
Commentary on - war
Writer's slant towards subject: - very favorable
Story of entire life, or part? - story of set of events during life
If this is a kid's book: - Age 16-Adult
Autobiography? Yes
Pictures/Illustrations? - None
How much dialogue in bio? - little dialog
How much of bio focuses on most famous period of life? - 0-25% of book
How much is philosophy rather than life story? - 0-25% of book
Most similar books to The Armies of the Night
The Iron Road: A Stand for Truth and Democracy in Burma by James Mawdsley
Blinders by Jane LeMond Alvarez
Castro's Daughter: An Exile's Memoir of Cuba by Alina Fernandez
Deng: A Political Biography by Benjamin Yang
The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama


Click here for more information about this book


Norman Mailer Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
Nathaniel Ford  

SCHOLARS:
Jack Goodstein  


Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).
Three ways to search for Biography books!

1) One-click plot searches! Simply click on a plot or subplot below!

Animal story?

Big Business story?

Disaster Story

Ethnic/regional/gender

Family, hate

Family, ill

Family, love

Food

Job/profession/poverty story

Kids growing up/acting up?

Life in an institution

Outdoors story

Pal/friendship story

Phys disability/mental struggle?

Political/social rights fight

Road trip

Romance

Royalty bio

Sports story

Taboo Sex Story?

War/Spying



or 2) Simple lookup
(title or author)

or
3) Even more search options available with a Detailed Booksearch (click here)

Use our site!
17 FREE Sci-Fi Ebooks!
FREE "How to be happy" Ebook!
Feedback


Most recent discussions:

General Book Talk
Book writing discussion
Off-topic message board
Norah Lofts 6:49:46 PM
Suzanne Weyn 10:35:23 PM
George W. Bush 5:33:46 PM
Kin Platt 12:58:29 AM
Anonymous 12:47:34 PM
Lilian Jackson Braun 10:05:52 PM
Jane Rubino 10:04:38 PM
LaVyrle Spencer 10:04:00 PM
G.A. McKevett 10:03:31 PM
David Williams 10:03:01 PM
Steven Pressfield 10:02:30 PM
Jeanette Walls 10:00:19 PM
Darryl Ponicsan 9:59:27 PM
Ann Rinaldi 9:58:30 PM
R.L. Stine 9:57:34 PM
Geoffrey Huntington 9:57:14 PM
Betty Mahmoody 9:56:38 PM
Deric Longden 9:56:11 PM
Mary Downing Hahn 9:55:48 PM
Iris Johansen 9:55:24 PM

More message boards