GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE SON

　　For two thousand years, the brief ministry of a young Nazarenepreacher has remained the largest single determinant of Westerncivilization's triumphs and disasters. Now, Norman Mailer haswritten a novel about Jesus's life. Is God speaking to me? Jesusasks. Or am I hearing voices? If the voices are from God, why hasHe chosen me as His son? And if they are not from God, then whogave me the power to perform these miracles? It soon becomesevident that we are being told the story of a skilled and mostdevout carpenter who is living with prodigious questions. Theresult is an intimately readable account of a man thrust forward bythe visions he receives, the sermons he offers, and the miracles heenacts until he comes to the apocalyptic end of his powers. TheGospel According to the Son vividly recreates the world of Galileeand Jerusalem two thousand years ago. In a time of uneasystability, the Holy Land is governed by a complacent but fearfulestablishment who rule over a despairing underclass -- it is a timeof great change, open to comparison with our own. Mailer's signalaccomplishment is to create for us a man wholly unlike others whois nonetheless filled with passion and doubt, strength andweakness; a protagonist divine and human, a son of God who sharesour condition. In The Gospel According to the Son, one of America'sgreatest living writers has brought us a remarkable book -- byturns bold, thoughtful, poetic, tragic, passionate, and, to oursurprise and pleasure, suspenseful. "From the Hardcoveredition."