United States: Essays, 1952-92 v. 1

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Synopsis

Gore Vidal's reputation as America's finest essayist is an enduring one. This collection, chosen by the author from 40 years of work, contains about two-thirds of what he published in various magazines and journals. He has divided the essays into three categories, or states. State of the art covers literature, including novelists and critics, bestsellers, pieces on Henry James, Oscar Wilde, Suetonius, Nabakov and Montaigne (a previosly uncollected essay from 1992). State of the union deals with politics and public life: sex, drugs, money, Abraham Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, The Holy Family (his essay on the Kennedys), Nixon, and finally Monotheism and its Discontents , a scathing critique of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. In state of being, we are given personal responses to people and events: recollections of his childhood, E. Nesbit, Tarzan, Tennessee Williams and Anais Nin.

Book details

Published
22/09/1994

Publisher
Abacus

ISBN
9780349105246

Publisher and industry reviews

Jacket review

'Magnificent...irresistable from beginning to end.' THE TIMES 'All the Vidals are on display in this glittering showcase... Long may he continue to nip and bite at the flanks of the corrupt, the powerful, the moronic and the self-serving.' GUARDIAN 'The arc and span of Vidal's erudition and intelligence are prodigious... for forty years it has been Vidal's vocation to restore a witty and classically literate sense of memory and historical continuity to a country he calls "Amnesia"' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY 'Vidal is the outstanding literary radical of America.' Melvyn Bragg 'He can express in a phrase what a more solemn essayist would be hard pressed to put in a paragraph.' Peter Ackroyd 'Unique; masterly; an indispensible book.' TIME OUT 'Every reader of sense should hurry to acquire Gore Vidal's brilliant offering.' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'He is a great historian. America needs his intelligence, and we should not be averse to it. This volume has a very considerable importance.' OBSERVER 'Gloriously funny.' Jonathan Raban 'At more than 1200 pages, it's too short by half.' GLASGOW HERALD 'In a better world, writers would be as electable as film stars.' ATTITUDE 'Bumper package of brilliance and bitchery, about US culture and politics, from Uncle Sam's own enemy within.' NEW STATESMAN 'There is no commentator in his league.' SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY

UK Kirkus review

The finest essayist since the war, Gore Vidal combines wit and learning with a remarkable range. He is liberal, intolerant of academics, very witty and, most importantly, an enthusiast. This enormous doorstop of a book gathers together about two-thirds of the essays he has written over 40 years. (Kirkus UK)