1968

Wild 90 premieres 7 January, and Beyond the Law 2 April.

Preceded by magazine publication (Part I in Harper's and Part II in Commentary), The Armies of the Night (68.8) is published by New American Library on 6 May, 20 years to the day after The Naked and the Dead (48.2). His account receives almost unanimously favorable and enthusiastic reviews, including a front page review by Alfred Kazin in the New York Times Book Review on 5 May.

In July, makes his third experimental film, Maidstone, on Long Island. Mailer plays a famous director, Norman T. Kingsley, and Rip Torn plays his half-brother Raoul. After formal photography is over, Raoul-Torn attacks Kingsley-Mailer with a hammer and they fight. After the recriminations melt, Mailer uses the attack, which was filmed, as the conclusion of the film.

In August, covers the national political conventions, and publishes his account, Miami and the Siege of Chicago (68.25), first in Harper's and then in book form on 24 October.

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  NM in 1968. Photo by Chris Smith.

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  NM filming Maidstone (1968).

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  From Maidstone (1968).

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  Carol Stevens and NM in Maidstone (1968).

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  NM in Grant Park (1968). Photo by Chicago Sun Times.

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  NM and Joe Flaherty in 1968. Photo by N.Y. Press Service.