Since his first novel, The Naked and the Dead, brought him early fame in 1949, Norman Mailer has remained one of America's most innovative and controversial writers. His most recent novel, Harlot's Ghost (1991), provides an opportunity to re-evaluate his contribution to America's understanding of itself in the years since 1945. 'So goes Mailer, so goes America' was once the claim, and in this study of Mailer's fiction, Michael Glenday offers new readings of novels such as An American Dream (1965) and Why are we in Vietnam? (1967) as well as more recent works. Dr Glenday emphasises Mailer's stature as one of the most politically engaged writers of his generation, and gives readers a stimulating account of his life and background. His ideas and achievements are reassessed, from the existential heroism we find first proposed in The Deer Park (1955) to later novels such as Ancient Evenings (1983), where mysticism and myth are explored in imaginative form.