The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer

The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer

Hailed as one of the finest novels to come out of the Second World War, The Naked and the Dead received unprecedented critical acclaim upon its publication and has since become part of the American canon. This fiftieth anniversary edition features a new introduction created especially for the occasion by Norman Mailer.

Written in gritty, journalistic detail, the story follows an army platoon of foot soldiers who are fighting for the possession of the Japanese-held island of Anopopei. Composed in 1948, The Naked and the Dead is representative of the best in twentieth-century American writing.

Norman Mailer (1923-2007) was one of the best and most important writers of the twentieth century, as well as one of America's most well-known and divisive literary characters. He wrote stage plays, screenplays, television miniseries, hundreds of articles, two books of poetry, and a collection of short tales in addition to being the best-selling author of a dozen novels and 20 works of nonfiction. He lived in Brooklyn, New York, and Provincetown, Massachusetts, and was a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner.