65.5

In and Out of Books. Column by Lewis Nichols. New York Times Book Review, 14 March, 8. Mailer is quoted on why Dial Press published An American Dream (65.7) instead of his regular publisher, Putnam’s. Concerned that the pressure of writing the novel for monthly serialization in Esquire (see 64.2–64.9) might affect its quality, Mailer concluded that it could “be very good, good, bad or very bad indeed, and there would be a lot more pressure on me if I were doing it for a pal [Walter Minton, Putnam’s president]. Let a stranger [Richard Baron of Dial] take a bath.”