293 subscribers
Go offline with the Player FM app!
Superman Comes to the Supermarket, by Norman Mailer
Manage episode 158185374 series 1243787
Before anyone foresaw a time when a television celebrity could become president—hello, Cleveland—Norman Mailer wrote in Esquire that John F. Kennedy was a mythical hero who could finally unite the business of politics with the business of stardom. His legendary 1960 reported essay, “Superman Comes to the Supermart,” about J.F.K. and the Democratic political convention, changed the rules for how we understand our political candidates as brands, and how we’re allowed to write about them. Mailer archivist and biographer J. Michael Lennon joins host David Brancaccio to discuss Mailer’s legacy, what his essay wrought, and how it continues to ripple through our political culture and be proven prescient again and again.
44 episodes
Manage episode 158185374 series 1243787
Before anyone foresaw a time when a television celebrity could become president—hello, Cleveland—Norman Mailer wrote in Esquire that John F. Kennedy was a mythical hero who could finally unite the business of politics with the business of stardom. His legendary 1960 reported essay, “Superman Comes to the Supermart,” about J.F.K. and the Democratic political convention, changed the rules for how we understand our political candidates as brands, and how we’re allowed to write about them. Mailer archivist and biographer J. Michael Lennon joins host David Brancaccio to discuss Mailer’s legacy, what his essay wrought, and how it continues to ripple through our political culture and be proven prescient again and again.
44 episodes
All episodes
×



1 The Plane at the Bottom of the Ocean, by Bucky McMahon 26:26


1 The Price of Being President, by Richard Ben Cramer 23:50




1 The Days of Wine and Pig Hocks, by Jim Harrison 24:08


1 Martin Luther King Jr Is Still on the Case! by Garry Wills 30:16


1 Love in the Time of Magic, by E. Jean Carroll 29:23


1 The Tinkerings of Robert Noyce, by Tom Wolfe 25:41


1 The House That Thurman Munson Built, by Michael Paterniti 26:41




1 The Brain That Changed Everything, by Luke Dittrich 34:41


1 “I, Stalkerazzi” and “Angelina Jolie and the Torture of Fame,” by John H. Richardson 27:39


1 Nureyev Dancing In His Own Shadow, by Elizabeth Kaye 28:38




Welcome to Player FM!
Player FM is scanning the web for high-quality podcasts for you to enjoy right now. It's the best podcast app and works on Android, iPhone, and the web. Signup to sync subscriptions across devices.