1971

Mailer's most prolific publishing year: four books in twelve months. Of a Fire on the Moon appears in January; 'The Prisoner of Sex' fills the March Harper's and helps force out editor Willie Morris; King of the Hill follows the March Ali-Frazier fight; The Prisoner of Sex appears as a book in May; Maidstone: A Mystery and The Long Patrol close the year. He moderates the combative 30 April Town Hall 'Dialogue on Women's Liberation' and ends the year trading blows with Gore Vidal on the Dick Cavett Show. Maggie Alexandra is born to Carol Stevens in March.

January — the moon book

11 January — Little, Brown publishes Of a Fire on the Moon (71.1), Mailer’s book on the Apollo 11 landing — the first of eight Mailer titles the firm would issue. Assembled from his three 1969–70 Life installments, it is later nominated for the National Book Award in the sciences category. Through it Mailer fully develops the persona of Aquarius. The book draws a year of moon-themed interviews: Ron Rosenbaum’s “The Siege of Mailer” (71.2), Barbara Bannon’s “Authors and Editors” (71.3), and Leticia Kent’s “The Rape of the Moon” (71.4).

March — the Harper’s storm and the Fight of the Century

The March Harper’s carries “The Prisoner of Sex” (71.10) as its cover story, occupying nearly the whole issue; it sells out in nine days. The furor contributes to the resignation of editor Willie Morris and to Mailer’s break with the magazine — reported by Alden Whitman (“Morris Resigns in Harper’s Dispute,” 71.11), Barbara Trecker (71.12), and Time (“Hang-Up at Harper’s,” 71.13). A staged reading of D.J., Mailer’s one-act adaptation of Why Are We in Vietnam?, is given in New York.

8 March — Joe Frazier defeats Muhammad Ali at Madison Square Garden in the “Fight of the Century.” Mailer’s account, “Ego” (71.14), appears in Life on 19 March — some of its photographs taken by Frank Sinatra — and is published in April as the book King of the Hill (71.15).

21 March — Mailer’s fifth daughter, Maggie Alexandra, is born to Carol Stevens.

Spring — “A Dialogue on Women’s Liberation”

30 April — At Town Hall in New York, Mailer moderates “A Dialogue on Women’s Liberation,” sponsored by New York University and the Theatre for Ideas, with Germaine Greer, Jill Johnston, Diana Trilling, and Jacqueline Ceballos. Mailer said later that his hair began to turn white that night. The evening becomes D. A. Pennebaker’s documentary Town Bloody Hall, and generates a long train of coverage (71.16–71.19, 71.23, 71.27). The contemporaneous report is Israel Shenker’s “Norman Mailer vs. Women’s Lib” (71.16).

27 May — Little, Brown publishes The Prisoner of Sex (71.20), the book expansion of the Harper’s essay, dedicated to Carol Stevens and later nominated for the National Book Award in the arts and letters category. Brigid Brophy’s hostile New York Times Book Review notice draws Mailer’s reply (71.22).

Summer — Vermont and boxing

In June, in Vermont, Mailer edits the manuscript of José Torres‘s biography of Muhammad Ali; in August …Sting Like a Bee appears with Mailer’s preface (71.26). His essay “A Course in Film-Making” (71.25) runs in New American Review.

8 September — Matthew Norris (Matthew Norris Mailer) is born to Barbara Norris (later Norris Church Mailer); Mailer informally adopts him after marrying his mother in 1980.

Fall — Maidstone and The Long Patrol

In September, Mailer’s film Maidstone premieres at the Whitney Museum; the published text, Maidstone: A Mystery (71.28), follows from New American Library on 1 October. On 25 October, World publishes The Long Patrol (71.29), an anthology of Mailer’s work edited by Robert F. Lucid. Jay Cocks reviews Maidstone in Time (“Norman’s Phantasmagoria,” 71.30).

December — Cavett and the cathedral

2 December — Mailer has an acrimonious televised exchange with Gore Vidal on the Dick Cavett Show, occasioned by Vidal’s comparison of Mailer to Charles Manson in the New York Review of Books.

20 December — A Time “People” squib (71.30a) reports an antiwar gathering at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, attended by Mailer, Tennessee Williams, Bishop Paul Moore, and Dotson Rader. In December, New American Library also reissues Deaths for the Ladies (and Other Disasters) with a new introduction (71.31).

The year’s prominence is reflected in scholarship: Modern Fiction Studies devotes a special number to Mailer in 1971.

Related pages

• 1970 | 1972
• Of a Fire on the Moon (71.1) | The Prisoner of Sex (71.20) | King of the Hill (71.15) | Maidstone: A Mystery (71.28)
• Aquarius | Muhammad Ali | Germaine Greer | Willie Morris
• The Siege of Mailer: Hero to Historian (71.2) | Authors and Editors: Norman Mailer (71.3) | The Rape of the Moon: Norman Mailer Talks about Sexual Lunacy and the WASP (71.4) | The Prisoner of Sex (71.10) | Morris Resigns in Harper's Dispute (71.11) | Mailer Tells Harper's — Me, Too (71.12) | Hang-Up at Harper's (71.13) | Ego (71.14) | Norman Mailer vs. Women's Lib (71.16) | What Happened to Mozart's Sister? (71.19) | Norman Mailer: Devil in the Fire (71.23) | My Mailer Problem (71.27) | Letter to the New York Times Book Review (71.22) | Preface to ...Sting Like a Bee: The Muhammad Ali Story (71.26) | A Course in Film-Making (71.25) | The Long Patrol: 25 Years of Writing from the Work of Norman Mailer (71.29) | Norman's Phantasmagoria (71.30) | People (Time column, 20 December 1971) (71.30a) | Introduction to Deaths for the Ladies (and Other Disasters) (71.31)

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Last updated: 2026-06-04