Editing An Assassin's Diary

{{Short description|1973 book by Arthur Bremer}}
{{refimprove|date=October 2013}}
{{Infobox book
| italic title   = <!--(see above)-->
| name           = An Assassin's Diary
| image          = An Assassin's Diary.jpg
| image_size     = 
| alt            = 
| caption        = First edition
| authors        = [[Arthur Bremer]] and Harding Lemay
| title_working  = 
| cover_artist   = 
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| subject        = United States, Assassins
| set_in         = 
| published      = 1973 (Harper's Magazine Press)
| media_type     = Print
| pages          = 
| awards         = 
| isbn           = 0-06-120470-6
| isbn_note      = 
| oclc           = 590731
| dewey          = 976.1060924
| congress       = E840.8.B73
| wikisource     = 
| notes          =
| exclude_cover  = 
| website        =
}}
'''''An Assassin's Diary''''' ({{ISBN|0-06-120470-6}}) is a book written by [[Arthur Bremer]] and Harding Lemay and released in 1973. It was based on part of the diary of Bremer, the would-be [[assassination|assassin]] of Alabama governor [[George Wallace]]. Bremer shot Wallace on May 15, 1972, at the [[Laurel Shopping Center]] in [[Laurel, Maryland]], while Wallace was in the midst of his third campaign for [[President of the United States|President]].

In the book, Bremer says he was not particularly opposed to Wallace's political agenda, which many had branded as [[white supremacist]]; his primary motive was to become famous as he had also stalked President [[Richard Nixon]].

[[Paul Schrader]] was partly inspired by Bremer's diary when he wrote the screenplay for the 1976 film ''[[Taxi Driver]]'', which was directed by [[Martin Scorsese]].{{Disputed inline|Talk page section|date=January 2024}} Peter Gabriel's 1980 song "[[Family Snapshot]]," from ''[[Peter Gabriel (1980 album)|Peter Gabriel (III)]]'' was inspired by ''An Assassin's Diary''.<ref>[http://blogcritics.org/music-review-peter-gabriel-melt-1980/ Music Review: Peter Gabriel – Melt (1980)]</ref>

==Reviews==
In the essay "The Art and Arts of E. Howard Hunt", [[Gore Vidal]] assesses Bremer's writing style and notes the apparent contradiction between Bremer's lucid prose and his characterization as a person with a mediocre intellect.<ref name="The New York Review; December 19, 1973">{{cite journal |last=Vidal |first=Gore |author-link=Gore Vidal |date=December 19, 1973 |title=The Art and Arts of E. Howard Hunt |url=http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/V%20Disk/Vidal%20Gore/Item%2001.pdf |journal=The New York Review |location=New York |access-date=May 9, 2015}}</ref> Vidal further speculates that CIA agent [[E. Howard Hunt]] may have authored parts of Bremer's supposed diary, arguing there are similarities between Bremer's writing style and the prose found in Hunt's adventure and espionage novels, and noting Bremer's supposed diary alternates between passages of clear writing and passages of extreme misspelling and poor grammar.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/wallace/sfeature/assasin.html Portrait of an Assassin: Arthur Bremer] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080613203506/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/wallace/sfeature/assasin.html |date=2008-06-13 }}, with quotes from his diary
*[https://archive.org/details/nsia-BremerArthurDiaryBookof/page/n1/mode/1up Bremer Arthur Diary Book of] from the [[Internet Archive]]
{{George Wallace}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Assassins Diary, An}}
[[Category:1973 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Diaries]]
[[Category:Works about George Wallace]]