1973

“Hoffman is a patriot who has fought the Good Fight to waken his fellow Americans to the cor­ruption of their own tradi­tional ideals. Like Tom Paine, he is a classic example of philosophic and poetic drama­tist of public Ideals”

Originally published:

“He may, like Zapata, be that ultimate contradiction — a man 'of the peo­ple' who towers above them, a man in constant tension with his own myth.”

Originally published:

“Suddenly moviegoers of both sexes have encountered ... Marlon Brando’s pseudo-sensitive stud’s swagger, Burt Reynolds’s coy centerfold swagger, and Norman Mailer’s ballsy literary swagger.”

Originally published:

“Proceeds from the birthday part were said to be destined for 'the Fifth Estate,' an organization, or foundation, or publication, or something, anyway, about which no one seemed to know much.”

Originally published:

“Mailer said he wanted to establish something he called 'the Fifth Estate,' essentially an organization to investigate whether the United States was slipping into totalitarianism through a series of carefully manipulated conspiracies. He said it was the best political idea he ever had”

Originally published:

“The great library of New York dope has been going up in smoke this month. I want it all smoked up by September One, when I clear out for good. Here,” he said, tossing me a Baggie full of grass. “Try some 1967”

Originally published:

"Who could have imagined that the Senate Watergate inquest would have ranged as far as the fabled Treasure of the Aztecs?"

Originally published:

“Rather like an aging samurai or a 19th-century empire builder who has lived past his time, Robert Moses remains proud of his monuments and cannot accept the modern challenge to his build-at-any-price ethic.”

Originally published:

“There is no more talk of a few rotten apples in the barrel. It is the barrel that is rotten. The only trouble is that we are all still inside it, and the Knapp Commission has not told us how to get out.”