Harlot's Ghost

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The Reds, not us, are the evil ones, and so they are clever enough to imply that they are in the true tradition of Christ.

But it’s a tremendous commentary on the early days of the Cold War and how the foibles of politicians and the CIA really made a mess of things. May I add as a side-note that I now wish to dig up the remains of Herr Mailer, wherever they are interred, assuming they are, and beat them with my house shoe.Reader beware, the remarkably interesting beginning sees absolutely no fruition, simply a "To Be Continued". The metaphor of the harlot shows how performing a role turns the CIA into a self-perpetuating fantasy world with no clear boundaries as to where its authentic identity really begins or ends. That was the pre-market, pre-consumer era when important events that captured the US citizens' imagination and guided every smart person's ambitions were not in the financial, economic or corporate world.

All the while, Hubbard is haunted by women who were loved by both his godfather and President Kennedy.Washed by incoming waves are barnacles and periwinkles, rockweed mussels, Irish moss, red seaweed, dulse. Ensconced in Moscow's Hotel Metropole, Harry rereads "The Game" on microfilm; this account constitutes the bulk of "Harlot's Ghost. as a homosexual and as a Jew, is nevertheless one of its shrewdest operatives, as well as one of Mailer's most winning creations. The very beginning of the book starts with Harry being told by a friend that his mentor Hugh Montague (a top level CIA officer) has either been assassinated or committed suicide on his boat.