"This
impressive volume comes at a crucial time for the United States where democracy is threatened by a looming fascism fueled by runaway capitalism and ubiquitous digital technologies.
A Mysterious Country shows the breadth and nuance of Mailer's political thought that might even be more timely today than in the twentieth century. Smartly curated and significant, it is not only for students of Mailer but for those who seek a critical and granular understanding of the soul of the United States. A Mysterious Country is
a must-read."–G. R. Lucas, PhD, Professor of English, Middle Georgia State University, coeditor,
Norman Mailer: Works and Days "
Norman Mailer's nearly lifelong preoccupation with the fear that American democracy could be displaced by fascism is on full display in this outstanding book. Anyone who wants to understand the present crisis of America should read this superb collection of his insights."–Robert S. McElvaine, author of
The Times They Were a-Changin' 1964, the Year the Sixties Arrived and the Battle Lines of Today Were Drawn "In this anthology, Norman Mailer reminds us of what a great writer he was–and many other things. He was a contrarian historian of our times, endlessly curious, as well as a psychic eye of a cyclops monster, ready to say the most outrageous things to provoke our thinking, a formidable debater and opponent who made even neutral folk want to fight him.
Mailer was a conscience for this country, a fearless gunslinger of our national psyche. At the very least, although he may infuriate you and make you angry, at other times, he will enlighten you. His is a new way of seeing. What more can a writer give us?"–Oliver Stone
"A Mysterious Country is
an illuminating synthesis of Mailer's most salient observations about America, a cohesive collection of trenchant insights into the promise of democracy and the forces that threaten to dismantle it. Startling in its contemporary resonance, this book offers a valuable contribution to ongoing conversations about the direction of our American experiment."–Magdalen McKinley, president of the Norman Mailer Society.
"Indeed,
this era of moronic MAGA rantings, of rampant hypocrisy, shameless mendacity, malignant racism, anti-Semitism, anti-intellectualism, and arrogant ignorance calls out for the kind of fiery vitriol and inspired diatribe that fills this volume. . . . These texts [in A Mysterious Country] examine the many ways the ideal of democracy has been subverted by the allure of totalitarianism."–Peter Keough,
Arts Fuse "Welcome and timely . . . No writer personifies the maddening contradictions of American democracy better than the late Norman Mailer."–David Masciotra,
Washington Monthly "A Mysterious Country should sit well on the writing and reading syllabi of 21st-century America." –Vol. 1 Brooklyn "
Democracy is a grace. Democracy is something essentially splendid because it's not at all routine or automatic. Democracy, in fact, depends on the notion that there are more people who are good than bad, and that's a very large notion. Fascism goes back to our infancy and our childhood, where we were always told how to live. We were told, 'Yes, you may do this; no, you may not do that.' So, the secret of fascism is that it has this appeal to people whose later lives are not satisfactory."–
Norman Mailer, from remarks at a New York Public Library event, June 27, 2007
