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A visit to Haldeman and other states of mind
Book by Mee, Charles L
- GenresPolitics
226 pages, Unbound
First published January 1, 1977
2 people are currently reading
40 people want to read
About the author
Charles L. Mee Jr.
53 books19 followersCharles L. Mee is an American playwright, historian and author known for his collage-like style of playwriting, which makes use of radical reconstructions of found texts. He is also a professor of theater at Columbia University. (Source: Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 14, 2017
A seldom read but critically praised rumination on life and politics in America. Written in the 1970s, the book will sound familiar to those of us who remember life under Gerald Ford and the dashed expectations of the 1960s. The bulk of the ruminations concern the author's own life, which are consistently fascinating.
Mee's political views and expectations of the future of American democracy are not entirely original and he fails to anticipate the important threads and movements in U.S. politics that occurred after his book. The book is nevertheless a literary gem, sort of a hybrid of Pynchon paranoia and Hunter Thompson's gonzo journalism.
Mee's political views and expectations of the future of American democracy are not entirely original and he fails to anticipate the important threads and movements in U.S. politics that occurred after his book. The book is nevertheless a literary gem, sort of a hybrid of Pynchon paranoia and Hunter Thompson's gonzo journalism.
July 30, 2017
Disappointing. Dwight Garner's NYT piece quoted literally all of the good lines, after which there's just a whole lot of meditating/ruminating/cogitating. I get the point about how Mee's ruminations about his Catholic upbringing redound onto this vision of what the government should do and why, but the great, hilarious quotable lines (which, to repeat, Garner nailed ALL OF) pretty much all crop up in the first 40 pages.
July 10, 2018
May 2017
The obvious ironic/satiric comedy in the author's account of interviewing and writing about Haldeman was for me and Mee opportunity to really think about what government is and should be, how there are inherent problems in trying to make democracy a platform for equality. "What?" you say, "But that's the cornerstone of American thought!" And that contradiction is what makes this a must-read book...
January 2018
I re-read this memoir after reading Percival Everett's novel Percival Everett by Virgil Russell, which is a deconstructionist's wet dream. I was again engaged in Mee's personal evolution, his brush with polio as a teen and his reading of political and philosophical works during his recovery. What also impressed was the degree of betrayal that Nixon's resignation represents for Mee, especially in light of the 45 years that have intervened. Also at the heart of this is the juxtaposition of freedom and equality, how precarious their balance in American democracy.
The obvious ironic/satiric comedy in the author's account of interviewing and writing about Haldeman was for me and Mee opportunity to really think about what government is and should be, how there are inherent problems in trying to make democracy a platform for equality. "What?" you say, "But that's the cornerstone of American thought!" And that contradiction is what makes this a must-read book...
January 2018
I re-read this memoir after reading Percival Everett's novel Percival Everett by Virgil Russell, which is a deconstructionist's wet dream. I was again engaged in Mee's personal evolution, his brush with polio as a teen and his reading of political and philosophical works during his recovery. What also impressed was the degree of betrayal that Nixon's resignation represents for Mee, especially in light of the 45 years that have intervened. Also at the heart of this is the juxtaposition of freedom and equality, how precarious their balance in American democracy.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews