A lively chronicle of the 1960s through the surprisingly close and incredibly contentious friendship of its two most colourful characters. William F. Buckley, Jr., and Norman Mailer were the two towering intellectual figures of the 1960s, and they lived remarkably parallel lives. They argued vociferously and publicly about every major issue of their time: civil rights, feminism, the counterculture, Vietnam, the Cold War, but behind the scenes, the two were close friends and trusted confidantes. Brimming with Buckley and Mailer's own thoughts from their personal diaries and letters, Buckley and Mailer also features cameos by other leading figures of the time, including James Baldwin, Joan Didion, Barry Goldwater, Robert F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Gloria Steinem, and Gore Vidal. In this book Schultz delivers a fresh chronicle of the '60s and its long aftermath as well as an enormously engaging work of narrative history that explores these extraordinary figures' contrasting visions of what America was and what it could be. “Schultz brings a good-natured, entertaining and, rare in academe, highly readable style to his treatment of two 20th century America patriots whose lives enriched us all.” -  Washington Times “Buckley and Mailer brings alive two talented, tireless characters…. Schultz weave[s] their contrasting public lives together in a way that helps to make sense of an era.” - Wall Street Journal