Norman Mailer: The Last Romantic gets at the sources of Mailer's obsession with violence, whilst also portraying a major literary figure in the making. From his fabulous debut war novel,The Naked and the Dead to his final bid for literary fame,The Castle in the Forest, a brooding foray into 20th century evil, Rollyson reveals all.Born to Isaac 'Barney' Mailer, a Lithuanian-Jewish immigrant from South Africa, and his wife Fanny on 31st January, 1923, Mailer was already showing signs of greatness at the tender age of six. Impressing his teachers, his mother soon realised that Mailer had great prospects; only helped by the fact that he was a good-looking boy with a personality that drew people to him. From an early age, Mailer was comfortable talking about all manner of topics and his underlying obsession with violence and sex merged into his personal life.Married many times, Mailer was unable to keep his desires at bay and had a total of nine children from all his marriages, though his relationships with women were not limited to his wives.Norman Mailer: The Last Romanticshows the great Norman Mailer in an entirely new and focused light, revealing all the trials and tribulations of his life and the successes of his many works. Praise for Carl Rollyson 'Meticulous narrative' - New York Times Book Review 'Recommended for both lay readers and scholars' - Library Journal Carl Rollyson is a writer whose biographies include Beautiful Exile: The Life of Martha Gellhorn, Lillian Hellman: Her Life and Legendand Marie Curie: Honesty in Science.

A well-known scholar of biography, he has also published Reading Biography, Essays in Biography, Lives of the Novelists,and British Biography: A Reader.