Gore Vidal Books

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.

pp. 428, SIGNED and dedicated by Beny.

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.

"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

The remarkable bestseller about the 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 restoring 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

At Home brings together 24 essays on subjects ranging from Henry James to Nancy Reagan, Oscar Wilde to Oliver North, Hollywood to Mongolia.

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.

Gore Vidal's Narratives of Empire series spans the history of the United States from the Revolution to the post-World War II years. With their broad canvas and large cast of fictional and historical characters, the novels in this series present a panorama of the American political and imperial experience as interpreted by one of its most worldly, knowing, and ironic observers. Burr is a portrait of perhaps the most complex and misunderstood of the Founding Fathers. In 1804, while serving as vice president, Aaron Burr fought a duel with his political nemesis, Alexander Hamilton, and killed him. In 1807, he was arrested, tried, and acquitted of treason. In 1833, Burr is newly married, an aging statesman considered a monster by many. Burr retains much of his political influence if not the respect of all. And he is determined to tell his own story. As his amanuensis, he chooses Charles Schermerhorn Schuyler, a young New York City journalist, and together they explore both Burr's past and the continuing political intrigues of the still young United States.

Argues that there are no longer intellectuals working outside of the academic world, criticizes the New Left, and explains the decline of bohemia.

Gore Vidal's autobiography encompasses his boyhood as page to his grandfather, Senator Gore; St. Albans school; the army; homosexual life in New York in the 40s and 50s; the early years of television; Hollywood; literary reflections, and much more.

Set in post-war Europe, fresh-out-of-law-school Philip Warren takes a year to discover his future. In this classic coming-of-age story, Philip journeys through various affairs, misadventures, and cities full of unforgettable characters that prompt his self-discovery and lessons on taking pleasure in both love and life. Power, knowledge, and love are the temptations of three alluring women as Philip wanders from Paris to Rome. Yet his choice matters less than the act of choosing in this witty odyssey of self-discovery.

Six essays on the theme of empire and republic, with particular focus on the national security state and the failure of the U.S. economic system.

Gore Vidal's satirical fantasy, with a new introduction by the author. From his long-time hiding-place in provincial Egypt, Eugene Luther tells the story of John Cave, a former Californian undertaker, his rise to power and the subsequent global impact of his new religion.

In a witty and elegant autobiography that takes up where his bestelling Palimpsest left off, the celebrated novelist, essayist, critic, and controversialist Gore Vidal reflects on his remarkable life.Writing from his desks in Ravello and the Hollywood Hills, Vidal travels in memory through the arenas of literature, television, film, theatre, politics, and international society where he has cut a wide swath, recounting achievements and defeats, friends and enemies made (and sometimes lost). From encounters with, amongst others, Jack and Jacqueline Kennedy, Tennessee Williams, Eleanor Roosevelt, Orson Welles, Johnny Carson, Francis Ford Coppola to the mournful passing of his longtime partner, Howard Auster, Vidal always steers his narrative with grace and flair. Entertaining, provocative, and often moving, Point to Point Navigation wonderfully captures the life of one of twentieth-century America’s most important writers.

Gore Vidal's ninth collection features a series of incisive essays that showcase his sharp intellect and wit, addressing diverse topics ranging from notable figures like Clare Boothe Luce and Charles Lindbergh to critical discussions on civil liberties and terrorism. His controversial take on the Bill of Rights initiated a dialogue with Timothy McVeigh, while his analyses of literary giants and political figures provide a rich exploration of America's evolving identity. Written during a pivotal political era, this collection serves as a reflective commentary on the American dream's complexities.

Offers a series of essays analyzing the development of United States foreign policy and criticizing the country's role in the world, its intervention in other lands, and the domestic impact of such policies.

The outrageous and immortal, gender-bending and polymorphously perverse, over-the-top, and utterly on-target comic masterpiece from the bestselling author of Burr, Lincoln, and the National Book Award-winning United States. With a new introduction by Camille Paglia "I am Myra Breckinridge, whom no man will ever possess." So begins the irresistible testimony of the luscious instructor of Empathy and Posture at Buck Loner's Academy of Drama and Modeling. Myra has a secret that only her surgeon shares; a passion for classic Hollywood films, which she regards as the supreme achievements of Western culture; and a sacred mission to bring heteronormative civilization to its knees. Fifty years after its first publication unleashed gales of laughter, delight, and ferocious dissent ("Has literary decency fallen so low?" asked Time), Myra Breckinridge's moment to instruct and delight has once again arrived.

In the long-awaited conclusion to his bestselling trilogy, Vidal has written his most devastating exploration of Imperial America to date. Not since the 1846 attack on Mexico in order to seize California, he writes, has an American government been so nakedly predatory.

The third novel in the chronology of Vidal's epic NARRATIVES OF EMPIRE, embodying the passage of American history.

An entertaining, insightful history of the men who've held the office, from the division between Jefferson and Hamilton through Bill Clinton's campaign for national health care.

The brilliant successor to Burr and Lincoln, a stunning historical novel of Theodore Roosevelt's Washington, America's Gilded Age and the expanding American empire, seen through the eyes and minds of the remarkable men and women who ruled it.

The United States has been engaged in what the great historian Charles A. Beard called "perpetual war for perpetual peace." The Federation of American Scientists has cataloged nearly 200 military incursions since 1945 in which the United States has been the aggressor. In a series of penetrating and alarming essays, whose centerpiece is a commentary on the events of September 11, 2001 (deemed too controversial to publish in this country until now) Gore Vidal challenges the comforting consensus following September 11th and goes back and draws connections to Timothy McVeigh's bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. He asks were these simply the acts of "evil-doers?" "Gore Vidal is the master essayist of our age." - Washington Post "Our greatest living man of letters."-Boston Globe "Vidal's imagination of American politics is so powerful as to compel awe."-Harold Bloom, The New York Review of Books

Jim Willard, former high-school athlete and clean-cut boy-next-door-, is haunted by the memory of a romanctic adolescent encounter with his friend Bob Ford. As Jim pursues his first love, in awe of the very same masculinity he possesses himself, his progresss through the secret gay world of 1940's America unveils surreptitious Hollywood affairs, the hidden life of the military in the Second World War and the underworld bar culture of New York City. With the publication of his daring thrid novel The City and the Pillar in 1948, Gore Vidal shocked the American public, which has just begun to hail him as their newest and brightest young writer. It remains not only an authentic and profoundly importatnt social document but also a serious exploration of the nature of idealistic love.

Vidal intertwines fond recollections of films savored in the movie palaces of his Washington, DC, boyhood with strands of autobiography & trenchant observations about American politics. Never before has the renowned author revealed so much about his own life or written with such immediacy about the forces shaping America. 26 halftones.

This stunning and illuminating portrait of national politics from the New Deal to the McCarthy era superbly blends historical figures with fictional characters. We follow the lives of Blaise Sanford, the ruthless Washington newspaper tycoon; his son, Peter, a liberal editor both fascinated and repelled by the imperial city; Peter's beautiful and self-destructive sister Enid; her husband, Clay Overbury, a charismatic and ambitious politician; and James Burden Day, the powerful conservative senator. With characteristic wit and insight, Vidal chronicles life in the nation's capital at a time when these men and others transformed America into "possibly the last empire on earth".

Early in his career, bestselling novelist Gore Vidal wrote three sparkling mysteries under the pseudonym Edgar Box starring amateur sleuth Peter Cutler Sargeant II. Death Likes It Hot, originally published in 1954, is the third of the trilogy. This edition features a new introduction by the author. Young public relations whiz Peter Cutler Sargeant II is invited by socialite Rose Veering to spend a weekend at her palatial Easthampton home. Sargeant, eager to escape New York city's summer heat, readily accepts, although his aging hostess soon has him doing double duty arranging publicity for an upcoming society party. Publicity soon arrives in a gruesome form when a guest is drowned. Was it an accident or murder? As the police investigate, Sargeant does his own snooping into the lives of his fellow suspects - and what he learns convinces him that something is dangerously amiss. This diabolically funny locked-room mystery is filled with Vidal's witty observations and dissections of the upper class.

Set against the backdrop of a ballet company, the story follows Peter Sargent, a charismatic public relations man, who is tasked with managing press for an important performance. The plot thickens when a talented dancer falls to her death during the show, leading Sargent to uncover a web of rivalries, affairs, and hidden agendas among the dancers. As he navigates the intricate dynamics behind the scenes, Sargent uses his charm and sharp instincts to unravel the mystery and identify the killer.

Gore Vidal's two related novels in a single volume, with a new introduction by the author. Myra Breckinridge arrives in Hollywood intending to prove that it is possible to work out in life all one's fantasies - and survive. And in Myron she returns to battle it out with her eponymous alter ego.

The concluding volume in Gore Vidal's American empire novels presents a vibrant tapestry of American political and cultural life from 1939 to 1954, capturing the transformation of the nation from a republic into an empire amid the tumult of World War Two and the Cold War. Central to the narrative are Caroline Sanford, a D.C. newspaper publisher turned Hollywood producer, and her nephew Peter Sanford, who publishes the independent journal The American Idea. They witness Franklin Roosevelt's skillful efforts to draw a reluctant nation into World War Two, followed by Harry Truman's commitment to a prolonged struggle against Communism. Despite their skepticism about these developments, they observe the emergence of an American global empire. The story unfolds primarily in Washington, D.C., while also highlighting the influential Hollywood film industry and New York's cultural scene. Alongside historical figures such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Harry Hopkins, and Wendell Wilkie, Vidal himself appears vividly in the narrative, enriching the exploration of this pivotal era in American history.

Thanks to the latest breakthrough in computer software, a cyberpunk- known bleakly as The Hacker- is destroying the tapes that describe the mission of Jesus Christ and His Gospel or Good News. The Sacred Story is vanishing rapidly. Fortunately one tape is Hackerproof, that of Timothy, who in his youth, was Robin to Saint Paul's Batman. Now, in Timothy's old age, Saint Paul comes to him in a vision and begs him to write down the True Gospel, otherwise all is lost. And thanks to the wonders of modern techonology, a TV crew will pre-record, live from Golgotha, the Crucifixion in order to boost NBC during the upcoming ratings battle. Will it take place or not? Will the Hacker manage to destroy all the records, including Timothy's? Will Jesus's weight problem be an image problem in the light of today's high standards? Tune in to Gore Vidal's classic of the greatest story never told- until now.

"Wicked and provocative...Vidal's purview of Hollywood in one of its golden ages is fascinating." --"Chicago Tribune" In his brilliant and dazzling new novel, Gore Vidal sweeps us into one of the most fascinating periods of American political and social change. The time is 1917. In Washington, President Wilson is about to lead the United States into the Great War. In California, a new industry is born that will transform America: moving pictures. Here is history as only Gore Vidal can re-create it: brimming with intrigue and scandal, peopled by the greats of the silver screen and American politics, from Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks to Franklin D. Roosevelt and the author's own grandfather, the blind Senator Gore. With Hollywood, Vidal once again proves himself a superb storyteller and a perceptive chronicler of human nature's endless deceptions. "From the Paperback edition."

Perhaps Vidal's most outrageous novel, this is an indescribable fantasy purportedly set in the city of Duluth (which, however, is near the Mexican border) & involving a tv show also named "Duluth" (a parody of "Dallas"), a spaceship that has landed nearby, the antics of a policewoman, Darlene Ecks, & much else. "A wild spoof of absolutely everything: social pretenses, law enforcement, marriage, open marriage, racism, literature, tv, science fiction, and sex. Dozens of plots perk along at an amazing pace...raunchy, dirty, outrageous, rife with cliches--& often very funny."--People "One of the most brilliant, most radical, & most subversive pieces of writing to emerge from America in recent years."--The New Statesman "Vidal belongs to that group of writers of our time who, precisely because they have always kept their eyes open to the disorders & distortions of our age, have chosen irony, humor, comedy--in other words, the whole range of literary instruments belonging to the universe of the laugh--as their means of settling accounts."--Italo Calvino

Gore Vidal's story of the faithful troubadour Blondel's search for Richard the Lionheart, kidnapped and held to ransom by Duke Leopold of Austria after the Third Crusade. It interweaves historical characters with giants, dragons, werewolves, libidinous ladies of the manor and a very nasty vampire.

One of the master stylists of American literature, Gore Vidal now provides us with his uniquely irreverent take on America's founding fathers, bringing them to life at key moments of decision in the birthing of the nation.

Good Friday, 1939, and T., a sixteen-year-old schoolboy, arrives at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington. The museum is closed, but T. manages to slip in, and it would appear that somehow, he is expected. An old man, Bentsen, shows him around, and T. realises that all is not as it seems. As he goes to examine a Native American exhibit, he is drawn magically into the nineteenth-century world of a reservation of Sioux Indians. They like what they see of T. and immediately get the pot boiling. T. is forced to take refuge in the tent of a young Squaw. They become lovers, and she helps him to escape back to the safety of the Smithsonian. Back with Bentsen, T. explores the Smithsonian further and begins to fathom the mysteries of time travel. The Smithsonian scientists have discovered how to get back to the past, but still don't know how to travel to the future. T. puts his brilliant mathematical brain to the problem. However, given a glimpse into the future, T. sees his own untimely death, and becomes determined to prevent the outbreak of WWII...

Vidal's first collection of essays, gathering many (but not all) of the essays and reviews he had written between 1951 and 1962.

Dresse l'état des lieux du journalisme aux Etats-Unis et présente les pressions qui s'exercent derrière la scène des grands médias américains par l'Etat central.

Una memoria es como recuerda uno su propia vida, dice Gore Vidal. Y aqui, contado con el encanto y la agudeza de uno de los mejores narradores de nuestro siglo, nos presenta el relato de sus primeros cuarenta anos: desde su infancia en Washington, en el hogar de su abuelo, el senador T. P. Gore; los dias de colegio; el servicio militar durante la segunda guerra mundial; sus experiencias como joven prodigio de la literatura durante los anos cuarenta y cincuenta, hasta su entrada en politica en los sesenta. Y todo ello acompanado de las figuras principales de su epoca: los Kennedy, Eleanor Roosevelt, los duques de Windsor, Tennessee Williams, Tgruman Capote, Paul Newman y Joanne Woodward, Jane y Paul Bowles, Anan1 Nin e infinidad de otros personajes legendarios con quienes Gore Vidal tuvo trato directo.

Das ist nicht Amerika! Während Clinton seinen Abschied zelebriert, bewundert die Welt den neuen Reichtum und die technologischen Innovationen Amerikas. Doch der Erfolg hat seine Schattenseite, und Gore Vidal leuchtet sie in seinen Essays schonungslos aus: die Zunahme schlecht bezahlter, unqualifizierter Arbeit, die Aushöhlung der Bürgerrechte, die orientierungslose Außenpolitik. In vielerlei Hinsicht ist Amerika ein Empire ohne Kompass, und man fragt sich, ob Al Gore, der farblose Favorit für die Clinton-Nachfolge, die Kraft und das Programm hat, es wieder auf Kurs zu bringen. Schartzüngig und provokant schreibt Gore Vidal über sein Land, Sex and Drugs, echte und falsche Terroristen und lässt keine Gelegenheit aus, literarische Größen, wie zum Beispiel John Updike, vorzuführen. Ob er die Gigantomanie der Medienkonzerne karikiert oder Sand in Getriebe der politischen Cliquenwirtschaft streut - Vidals Essays sind literarische Meisterwerke.

War denn die Welt vor dem 11. September nicht in Ordnung? Diese Frage kann man nicht ernsthaft stellen! Gore Vidal redet über Pearl Harbor, politische Lügen, amerikanischen Patriotismus und Mickey Mouse - was hat das mit den Attentaten vom 11. September zu tun? Diese Frage trifft den Kern des Problems! Vidals Buch beantwortet sie. In seinen neun Essays befasst Vidal sich mit den Taktiken amerikanischer Regierungen seit dem zweiten Weltkrieg, und er tut dies mit dem ihm eigenen Sprachstil, der prägnant und nie ohne Wortwitz schnellstens zum Kern eines Problems vordringt.

La tesi centrale del saggio che dà il titolo a questo libro, e che viene qui presentato in prima mondiale, è inquietante: Bush e i suoi conoscevano ciò che stava per succedere l'11 settembre e avrebbero intenzionalmente deciso di lasciarlo succedere, per poter scatenare una serie di guerre già da tempo programmate e consolidare così le proprie posizioni di dominio politico ed economico all'interno del paese e nel mondo intero. Quanto basta perché Vidal richieda, senza mezzi termini, l'impeachment del presidente americano. E alle bugie degli ultimi imperatori sono dedicati anche gli altri dieci brevi saggi presenti nel volume

Vidalov historický román Mohol som byť prezidentom zobrazuje životný príbeh pozoruhodnej postavy americkej revolúcie, jedného zo zakladajúcich otcov republiky, tretieho amerického viceprezidenta a súčasného „hrdinu" prvého veľkého politického škandálu Spojených štátov Aarona Burra (1756—1836). Burr prežil nesmierne farbistý život, plný dobrodružných zvratov (v devätnástich vojnový hrdina, plukovník, viceprezident, čo v súboji zastrelil svojho politického protivníka, súdený za zradu a pokus odtrhnúť západné štáty od Únie, politik s ambíciami vyhlásiť sa za mexického cisára, vášnivý milenec a nežný otec). O sebe i o velikánoch americkej revolúcie Georgeovi Washingtonovi, Thomasovi Jeffersonovi, Alexandrovi Hamiltonovi a iných rozpráva bez zábran, vidí ich malicherné slabosti, zbavuje ich glorioly; sú to jeho politickí protivníci, ktorí vyhrali boj, kým on ho prehral a stal sa čiernou ovcou amerických dejín. Keď Vidalov román vyšiel roku 1973 v newyorskom nakladateľstve Random House, stal sa pre svoje umelecké majstrovstvo i provokatívny prístup k stvárneniu historickej témy veľkým bestsellerom.

Kniha prináša 20 rozhovorov s našimi i zahraničnými osobnosťami, ktorá vyšli na stránkach týždenníka Slovo prevažne na prelome dvadsiateho a dvadsiateho prvého storočia. Títo ľudia, ktorých dielo a život sa už uzavreli, boli nielen svedkami, ale aj aktérmi udalostí druhej polovice dvadsiateho storočia, no aj aktívnymi účastníkmi či pozorovateľmi prevratných zmien po roku 1989, ktoré v čase vzniku rozhovorov už nadobúdali jasné kontúry. Zahraničné osobnosti sa rôznym spôsobom viažu aj k Slovensku, k prelomovej dobe, ktorú sme žili a žijeme. Väčšina oslovených bola aktívna už v čase druhej svetovej vojny. Prišli na svet v prvej tretine minulého storočia a do ich osudov výrazne zasiahlo Povstanie, ktorého sa viacerí zúčastnili. Čítanie rozhovorov, aj keď to iste vtedy redakcia Slova tak nekoncipovala, je ako čítanie jedného príbehu Slovenska.

Smíchejte seriál Dallas, film Blízká setkání třetího druhu, klasické ptákoviny bratří Marxů a náhodně vybranou ukázku z takzvaných „romancí“ pro ženy (to jest z toho, čemu říkáme „Červená knihovna“), hodně s tím zatřepte a pak to dejte přepsat někomu, kdo umí spojit přívětivý humor F. Kafky, hlubokou tragiku Kačera Donalda a něžnou lyriku daňových předpisů, a možná vám z toho vyleze něco vzdáleně podobného této literární mystifikaci.... celý text