United States: Essays 1952-1992 [Paperback]

Gore Vidal (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 10, 1995

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. Index.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This mammoth omnibus of 114 essays is vintage Vidal, a marvelous compendium of sharp wit and independent judgment that confirms his status as a man of letters. The prolific novelist/critic offers withering putdowns of the French "new novel," billionaire Howard Hughes and bestseller lists. He displays a reporter's hard nose for facts in travel pieces on Nasser's Egypt and Mongolia. He pens definitive portraits of H. L. Mencken, Oscar Wilde, Anthony Burgess, L. Frank Baum. He reminisces on his boyhood friendship with Amelia Earhart, who, we learn, was in love with Vidal's father, Eugene, FDR's director of commercial aviation. Mingling patrician impulses and egalitarian, subversive sentiments, Vidal takes unfashionable stances, as when he urges the legalization of drugs or ending military aid to the Middle East, including Israel. His sense of the United States as hub of an overextended empire informs pieces on "American sissy" Theodore Roosevelt, JFK, CIA spook E. Howard Hunt and the bloated military budget.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

This hefty volume will need strong binding: it contains 114 essays and over 1300 pages of Vidal's barbed opinions, articulate insights, intellectual observations, and more "correctionist" opinions. These pieces represent two-thirds of the essays Vidal has published over 40 years and fall into three categories: literary, political, and personal. Why the other one-third was omitted or why these particular ones were gathered at this time is not clear. If the aim is a "complete works," then why not include the other third and divide them into three physical volumes with proper editing? Such a collection would be worthwhile. Because Vidal's essays are always provocative, full of interesting facts, and have the immediacy of a conversation, this collection might be of interest to both public and academic libraries. Libraries on a tight budget can remember that the essays have appeared previously in such publications as the New York Review of Books.
- Nancy Shires, East Carolina Univ., Greenville, N.C.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 1298 pages
• Publisher: Random House (October 10, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679755721
• ISBN-13: 978-0679755722
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,986,863 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Gore Vidal has received the National Book Award, written numerous novels, short stories, plays and essays. He has been a political activist and as Democratic candidate for Congress from upstate New York, he received the most votes of any Democrat in a half-century.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vidal - the uncompromising essayist?, April 8, 2001

By 

Niall Kennedy (Oxford, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: United States: Essays 1952-1992 (Paperback)

Despite (repeatedly) claiming a place as one of America's greatest novelists, perhaps it will be this collection of essays which survives Vidal the longest. Arranged in two roughly equal collections dealing with literary and with political matters, the pieces span forty years and a rapidly-changing American society. Some of the most interesting pieces are commentaries on the development of the USA from a 'backward, agrarian republic' to the modern-day imperial juggernaut, summed up in the phrase 'National Security State' in which Vidal alleges there remains no true democracy, merely a meaningless choice between politicians who act like television personalities and seek only to maintain the status quo in favour of the rich elite. Politically leftist, Vidal takes an uncompromising stance against artistic, sexual and political hypocrisy, satirising politicians, journalists, fellow authors and historical figures with glee. The literary pieces are remarkable not only for the broad span of writers with which Vidal is familiar, but also for his ability to sketch in a few pages the whole development of a writer's work. The overall sense left by these essays, however, is that of something unfulfilled - whether Vidal's failed political ambitions, the sense one gets that he did not receive the recognition he wanted for his writings, and the broader sense of regret at the loss of American 'innocence' under Truman. Be that as it may, they offer one of the most radical, uncompromising, sharp and indeed witty voices available in America today, and I would highly recommend them

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Our greatest iconoclast..., June 15, 2000

By 

Gordon R Cameron - See all my reviews

This review is from: United States: Essays 1952-1992 (Paperback)

...and a brilliant essayist, Vidal shines in this book. The breadth of his scholarship is astonishing, and his matter-of-fact, cynical, mildly humorous take on American life is always interesting. He explodes all manner of literary, political, and religious pretensions in these essays, and makes serious, salient criticisms of our government, particularly what he deems the "National Security State" of the past 50 years. Vidal must be one of the most erudite individuals in American letters, and his grasp of U.S. history is unparalleled. The only downside of reading these essays is that one may feel like an uneducated rube afterwards.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Successful "essays", January 4, 2002

By 

M. A Newman (Alexandria, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: United States (Paperback)

This is a remarkable collection of essays. They cover literature, politics and history and show Vidal at his best. My favorites include his examination of the Kennedy Family (entitled The Holy Family) which though dated still shows the importance of showmanship be it the construction of a religion or a political dynasty. Vidal also looks at General Grant and surveys the American scene. Another gem is his examination of the books on the New York Times Best Seller list in the early seventies and what they tell us about American tastes and the declining craft of the writen word (Vidal believes it to be largely cinematic). There really are too many topics to cover properly in only 1,000. All of the essays are stimulating and thought provoking whether one agrees with the ideas expressed or not. I urge anyone who enjoys reading well-written prose to get this fascinating volume and discover the joys within its covers.