Norman Mailer: Works and Days

Why Are We in New York?

Mailer's most considered statement of why he should be Mayor of New York — the manifesto of the 1969 campaign, echoing the title of Why Are We in Vietnam? Reprinted in Running Against the Machine and, as 'An Instrument for the City,' in Existential Errands.

An essay in the New York Times Magazine — Mailer’s most considered statement of why he should be Mayor of New York, the intellectual manifesto of the 1969 Mailer–Breslin campaign. The title plays on his novel Why Are We in Vietnam? (67.15). It lays out the campaign’s signature proposals — New York City as the 51st state and the radical decentralization of power to the neighborhoods.

Rpt: Running Against the Machine (69.80), and — under its original title “An Instrument for the City” — in Existential Errands (72.7) and The Essential Mailer (82.19).

First published: 1969-05-18
Form: essay
Lennon & Lennon: 69.41
Cite as: /works/1969-why-are-we-in-new-york
Last updated: 2026-06-18