Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Penguin Classics (2014), 432 pages
Description
Overview: For many, the moon landing was the defining event of the twentieth century. So it seems only fitting that Norman Mailer-the literary provocateur who altered the landscape of American nonfiction-wrote the most wide-ranging, far-seeing chronicle of the Apollo 11 mission. A classic chronicle of America's reach for greatness in the midst of the Cold War, Of a Fire on the Moon compiles the reportage Mailer published between 1969 and 1970 in Life magazine: gripping firsthand dispatches from inside NASA's clandestine operations in Houston and Cape Kennedy; technical insights into the magnitude of their awe-inspiring feat; and prescient meditations that place the event in human context as only Mailer could.
User reviews
LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
Norman Mailer's version of the Apollo 11 moon landing is interesting, though rather self-absorbed. It began as magazine coverage, but Norman made it into another of his studies of the effects of media and technology on American Life.
LibraryThing member jordanjones
On topic, off topic, Mailer is a literary live wire. This is much more than sheer reportage, it's rumination, philosophy, history, egomania, and stylistic pyrotechnics. Sometimes, Mailer goes so far afield that you wonder if he will ever return to the topic. But even in these digressions, he's
Do not come to this book simply for history. Come to it to be involved in the mind of Mailer as much as the Apollo project.
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brilliant, provocative, and sometimes even wise. It's a roller coaster ride. Do not come to this book simply for history. Come to it to be involved in the mind of Mailer as much as the Apollo project.
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Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1970
Physical description
432 p.; 7.8 x 1.02 inches
ISBN
014139496X / 9780141394961
Other editions
Of a fire on the moon by Norman Mailer (Paper Book)