Comprising more than 100 of Vidal's inimitable pieces, this National Book Award winner features the author's choice of the essays that he has written over a period of 40 years--a definitive guide to post-war America.
Gore Vidal Books
October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012
Gore Vidal was a celebrated American author whose work was characterized by sharp intellect and a keen satirical eye on American society. Through his novels, essays, and plays, he frequently explored themes of power, decadence, and critiques of U.S. foreign policy. His distinctive style, often described as aphoristic and aristocratic, reflected a penchant for paradox and irony. Vidal left an indelible mark on American literature as both an astute observer and a formidable critic of his era.
Juilian, fourth-century Emperor who tried to reinstate pagan worship. Williwaw-a tale of a US patrol boat WWII. The Judgement of Paris-Entertaining account of travels and affairs in Italy, Egypt & Paris. The City and the Pillar-Tragedy -homosexual underground.
Gore Vidal again demonstrates in these seven stories the maturity of craftsmanship and individuality which has gained him an important place among writers. He has wit; he has variety; he has a style. Of the hundreds of new writers to come out of the Second World War, only a handful have continued to develop, to grow. He has survived notoriety and early success to achieve a career of letters that is unique, a body of work that is substantial, a perception of reality which is precise and illuminating. After reading 'A Moment of Green Laurel,' published here for the first time, one appreciates the comment of The Times Literary Supplement: 'It is quite possible for a successful young novelist like Mr. Gore Vidal to live in America and prevent anything he does not want from impinging on his consciousness and, as he matures, a correlation between his standards and those he does not follow. From the fusion a peculiarly American literature develops.'
The author offers his personal impressions of Venice, recounts its long history, and describes the paintings, sculpture, and architecture of the city
Recreates the milieux Williams knew and chronicled so movingly--from his gypsy youth in St. Louis and New Orleans to his days of celebrity in Hollywood and New York.
Lincoln
- 657 pages
- 23 hours of reading
"The portrait is reasoned, judicious, straightforward and utterly convincing." THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW In this profoundly moving work of epic proportion and intense human sympathy, Abraham Lincoln is observed by his loved ones, his rivals, and his future assassins. In this brilliantly realized, vividly imagined work of fiction, Gore Vidal gives us a portrait of America's great president that is at once intimate and public, stark and complex, and that will become for future generations the living Lincoln, the definitive Lincoln. "Richly entertaining....For the general reader the elegant explication of the issues of the day gives hearty satisfaction: history lessons with the blood still hot." THE WASHINGTON POST
Kalki
- 288 pages
- 11 hours of reading
Julian
- 528 pages
- 19 hours of reading
The remarkable bestseller about the fourth-century Roman emperor who famously tried to halt the spread of Christianity, Julian is widely regarded as one of Gore Vidal’s finest historical novels. Julian the Apostate, nephew of Constantine the Great, was one of the brightest yet briefest lights in the history of the Roman Empire. A military genius on the level of Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great, a graceful and persuasive essayist, and a philosopher devoted to worshipping the gods of Hellenism, he became embroiled in a fierce intellectual war with Christianity that provoked his murder at the age of thirty-two, only four years into his brilliantly humane and compassionate reign. A marvelously imaginative and insightful novel of classical antiquity, Julian captures the religious and political ferment of a desperate age and restores with blazing wit and vigor the legacy of an impassioned ruler.
Once again the incomparable Gore Vidal interprets and animates history -- this time in a panoramic tour of the 5th century B.C. -- and embellishes it with his own ironic humor, brilliant insights, and piercing observations. We meet a vast array of historical figures in a staggering novel of love, war, philosophy, and adventure . . . "There isn't a page of CREATION that doesn't inform and very few pages that do not delight." -- John Leonard, The New York Times
The Selected Essays of Gore Vidal
- 480 pages
- 17 hours of reading
Gore Vidal—novelist, playwright, critic, screenwriter, memoirist, indefatigable political commentator, and controversialist—is America's premier man of letters. No other living writer brings more sparkling wit, vast learning, indelible personality, and provocative mirth to the job of writing an essay.This long-needed volume comprises some twenty-four of his best-loved pieces of criticism, political commentary, memoir, portraiture, and, occasionally, unfettered score settling. It will stand as one of the most enjoyable and durable works from the hand and mind of this vastly accomplished and entertaining immortal of American literature.
