This book is a comprehensive study of the work of the American author Norman Mailer charting his response to critical events in his countrys development since 1945. Focusing on Mailers descriptions of World War II 1960s counterculture the Vietnam War the Apollo 11 mission and the execution of Gary Gilmore in Utah in 1977 the book analyses the native vernaculars in ten of his most critically acclaimed works. Moving beyond politically orientated scholarship the author outlines Mailers New York American GI MidWest and Southern styles contextualising his prose against earlier American authors including Henry Adams Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos and positioning his writing alongside contemporary notables such as Joan Didion William Burroughs and Truman Capote.