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, 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. He 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.

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, 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. He 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.