8 Great Books About the Sixties
Discover nonfiction and fiction from the iconic sixties era of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy, the Manson Murders, the space race, and more.
Read full article
Please take a moment to review Hachette Book Group's updated Privacy Policy: read the updated policy here.
Big Bang
Set in the 1950’s, this epic, Warholian novel presents a brilliant and wholly original take on the years leading up to the Kennedy assassination.
In this hilarious, lightning-fast historical novel, Bowman follows the most famous couples of the decade as their lives are torn apart by post-war’s new normal. We see Lucille Ball’s bizarre interrogation by the House UnAmerican Activities Committee and Jackie Onassis’ moonlight cruise with Frank Sinatra . We follow Norman Mailer and Arthur Miller as they attempt to get quickie divorces together at a loophole resort in Nevada and watch a young Howard Hunt snoop around South America with the newly founded CIA. A young Jimi Hendrix, now the epitome of counterculture cool, tries his luck as a clean cut army recruit.
Written with an almost documentary film like intensity, BIG BANG is a posthumous work from the award-winning author of Let the Dog Drive. A riotous account of a country, perhaps, at the beginning of the end.
Reader Reviews
Praise
"During this vast assembly,
there are plenty of examples of Bowman's talent....In all of his novels, there's
vitality, humor and imagination that deserve to be remembered."—New York Times
"There are dozens of
plots, which Bowman juggles with an agility that's breathtaking... he writes with
a real focus... His prose is elegant but stubbornly unshowy. "Big Bang" is a
stunningly accomplished novel, both deeply American and deeply weird."—Los Angeles Times
"Big Bang is a historical novel like no other I've
read. Alternately sharp and generous, it is not so much a
recitation verité as an emceed re-enactment of key events of the 50s and early
60s."
—Susan Isaacs, New York Times bestselling author of Goldberg Variations and As Husbands Go
—Susan Isaacs, New York Times bestselling author of Goldberg Variations and As Husbands Go