Tim Stanley
The Odd Couple
Buckley and Mailer: The Difficult Friendship that Shaped the Sixties
By Kevin M Schultz
America lost faith in itself during the 1960s. Assassins made martyrs, cities burned, priests renounced their gods and Vietnam butchered. The salvation of the times, however, was the quality of self-awareness, particularly in the writing. Kevin M Schultz’s dual biography of Norman Mailer and William F Buckley is an embarrassing reminder of how much better social criticism used to be. Jewish and socialist, Mailer was the favourite writer of the Yippies, young revolutionaries who wanted to expose the hypocrisy of America through political theatre. Catholic and Republican, Buckley was the grandaddy of American conservatism: founder of the National Review and leading spokesman for the squares.
You would think that no two men could be more different. But Schultz convinces us otherwise. They didn’t just become friends because they appeared on so many chat shows together. Both also served during the Second World War, both were relatively privileged, both obsessed about language and its uses, both ended up running for mayor of New York and both hated Gore Vidal. Moreover, while they
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Knowledge of Sufism increased markedly with the publication in 1964 of The Sufis, by Idries Shah. Nowadays his writings, much like his father’s, are dismissed for their Orientalism and inaccuracy.
@fitzmorrissey investigates who the Shahs really were.
Fitzroy Morrissey - Sufism Goes West
Fitzroy Morrissey: Sufism Goes West - Empire’s Son, Empire’s Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah by Nile Green
literaryreview.co.uk
Rats have plagued cities for centuries. But in Baltimore, researchers alighted on one surprising solution to the problem of rat infestation: more rats.
@WillWiles looks at what lessons can be learned from rat ecosystems – for both rats and humans.
Will Wiles - Puss Gets the Boot
Will Wiles: Puss Gets the Boot - Rat City: Overcrowding and Urban Derangement in the Rodent Universes of John B ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Twisters features destructive tempests and blockbuster action sequences.
@JonathanRomney asks what the real danger is in Lee Isaac Chung's disaster movie.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/eyes-of-the-storm