Miami and the Siege of Chicago: An Informal History of the Republican and Democratic Conventions of 1968
Mailer's nonfiction narrative of the 1968 Republican (Miami Beach) and Democratic (Chicago) national conventions, the latter convulsed by police violence against antiwar demonstrators. Published 24 October 1968; a National Book Award nominee. First appeared in Harper's as 'Miami Beach and Chicago.'
Miami and the Siege of Chicago: An Informal History of the Republican and Democratic Conventions of 1968 (New York: World, 24 October 1968; simultaneously in softcover from New American Library; London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, late 1968, subtitled An Informal History of the American Political Conventions of 1968; nonfiction narrative, 223 pp., $5.95) is Mailer’s report on the 1968 Republican convention in Miami Beach and the Democratic convention in Chicago, where police attacked antiwar demonstrators in the streets and parks. Like The Armies of the Night, it was written in Mailer’s third-person reportorial voice. The dedication reads: “To my Father.”
It was nominated for the National Book Award in history and biography. Mailer rated it highly among his political narratives: “Miami and the Siege of Chicago is probably a better book than St. George and the Godfather [72.17]… because the conventions themselves were more exciting, but also because there was a polarity in ‘68 more congenial to me than in ‘72” (75.11).
Magazine version
The narrative appeared first, at virtually the same time as the book, as “Miami Beach and Chicago” (68.27, Harper’s, November 1968, the cover story). The only substantive difference is the first chapter’s title and dating: “Miami Beach, August 3–9” in the book versus “Miami Beach, August 5–9” in the magazine (the latter the correct dates, per the partial reprint in The Time of Our Time). Rpt: 68.27, 76.5, 98.7 (partial).
Later editions
Related pages
- 1968 | The World Publishing Company
- Miami Beach and Chicago | The Armies of the Night: History as a Novel, The Novel as History
- Hundred Injured: 178 Are Arrested as Guardsmen Join in Using Tear Gas (68.18)
- St. George and the Godfather (72.17) | Existential Aesthetics: An Interview with Norman Mailer (75.11) | Some Honorable Men: Political Conventions, 1960-1972 (76.5) | The Time of Our Time (98.7)
Criticism 20
Reviews
- Fremont-Smith, Eliot. “Family Report.” New York Times, 1968-10-28. positiveregister
- Sheed, Wilfred. “Miami and the Siege of Chicago: A Review.” New York Times Book Review, 1968-12-06, 3, 56. mixedregister
- Fuller, Edmund. “Review of Miami and the Siege of Chicago.” Wall Street Journal, 1968-12-20, 14. positiveregister
- Shaw, Peter. “The Conventions, 1968.” Commentary, 1968-12, 93–96. positiveregister
- Buckley, Priscilla L. “Seeing It like Mailer Does.” National Review, 1969-02-11, 129–130. negativeregister
- Richardson, Jack. “The Aesthetics of Norman Mailer.” New York Review of Books, 1969-05-08, 8–9. positiveregister
- Berman, Paul. “Mailer's Great American Meltdown.” The New York Times Book Review, 2008-08-24, 27. register
- Frank, Thomas. “The Naked and the Daft.” Artforum International, 2008, 9–11. register
Essays, chapters, and books
- Leeds, Barry H. The Structured Vision of Norman Mailer. New York: NYU Press, 1969. register
- Braudy, Leo. “Norman Mailer: The Pride of Vulnerability.” Norman Mailer: a Collection of Critical Essays, Prentice Hall, 1972, 1–20. register
- Bailey, Jennifer. “The Novelist versus the Reporter.” Norman Mailer: Quick-Change Artist, Harper & Row, 1979, 101–113. register
- Morrow, Lance. “Sound and Fury.” Smithsonian, 2008-01, 94–100. register
- Rich, Frank. “How to Cover an Election.” The New York Review of Books, 2008-05-29, 9–10. register
- Hitchens, Christopher. “Norman Mailer: Miami and the Siege of Chicago.” The Mailer Review, 2008, 265–69. register
- Rich, Frank. “Introduction.” Miami and the Siege of Chicago, New York Review Books, 2008, vii–xi. register
- [unsigned]. “Briefly Noted.” Harper's Magazine, 2009-02, 29. register
- “Last of the Great Cities.” New York Times, 2009-10-04, 5. register
- Wenke, Joseph. “Mailer’s Nonfiction (1968–72): The View of the Outsider.” Mailer's America, University Press of New England for University of Connecticut, 2014, 167–177. register
- Hautzinger, Daniel. “The Infamous 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, as Seen by Novelist Norman Mailer.” WTTW, 2024-08-20. register
- Mikics, David. “Norman Mailer vs. the Big Empty.” Tablet, 2024-10-21. register
Referenced by 24
Works
- Existential Errands
- Hundred Injured: 178 Are Arrested as Guardsmen Join in Using Tear Gas
- In the Red Light: A History of the Republican Convention in 1964
- Miami Beach and Chicago
- Norman Mailer vs. the Big Empty
- Norman Mailer Wins an Award
- Norman Mailer: Four Books of the 1960s
- Norman Mailer: Why I Am Protesting the Presidency
- Some Honorable Men: Political Conventions, 1960-1972
- St. George and the Godfather
- Superman Comes to the Supermarket
- Testimony at the Trial of the Chicago Seven
- The Armies of the Night: History as a Novel, The Novel as History
- The Infamous 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, as Seen by Novelist Norman Mailer
- The Structured Vision of Norman Mailer