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 Ameri...

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. Praise for Of a Fire on the Moon**"The gift of a genius . . . a twentieth-century American epic--a* Moby Dick * of space."--* New York*

"Mailer's account of Apollo 11 stands as a stunning image of human energy and purposefulness. . . . It is an act of revelation--the only verbal deed to be worthy of the dream and the reality it celebrates."** --* Saturday Review***"A wild and dazzling book."** --* The New York Times Book Review***

"Still the most challenging and stimulating account of [the] mission to appear in print."** --* The Washington Post*** Praise for Norman Mailer

"[Norman Mailer] loomed over American letters longer and larger than any other writer of his generation."** --* The New York Times***"A writer of the greatest and most reckless talent."** --* The New Yorker***"Mailer is indispensable, an American treasure."** --* The Washington Post***"A devastatingly alive and original creative mind."** --* Life***"Mailer is fierce, courageous, and reckless and nearly everything he writes has sections of headlong brilliance."** --* The New York Review of Books***"The largest mind and imagination [in modern] American literature . . . Unlike just about every American writer since Henry James, Mailer has managed to grow and become richer in wisdom with each new book."** --* Chicago Tribune***"Mailer is a master of his craft. His language carries you through the story like a leaf on a stream."** --* The Cincinnati Post***