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Dreaming War: Blood for Oil and the Cheney-Bush Junta
When Gore Vidal's recent New York Times bestseller Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace was published, the Los Angeles Times described Vidal as the last defender of the American republic. In Dreaming War, Vidal continues this defense by confronting the Cheney-Bush junta head on in a series of devastating essays that demolish the lies American Empire lives by, unveiling a counter-history that traces the origins of America's current imperial ambitions to the experience of World War Two and the post-war Truman doctrine. And now, with the Cheney-Bush leading us into permanent war, Vidal asks whose interests are served by this doctrine of pre-emptive war? Was Afghanistan turned to rubble to avenge the 3,000 slaughtered on September 11? Or was "the unlovely Osama chosen on aesthetic grounds to be the frightening logo for our long contemplated invasion and conquest of Afghanistan?" After all he was abruptly replaced with Saddam Hussein once the Taliban were overthrown. And while "evidence" is now being invented to connect Saddam with 9/11, the current administration are not helped by "stories in the U.S. press about the vast oil wealth of Iraq which must- for the sake of the free world- be reassigned to U.S. consortiums."
197 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
19 people are currently reading
648 people want to read
About the author
Gore Vidal
423 books1,866 followersWorks of American writer Eugene Luther Gore Vidal, noted for his cynical humor and his numerous accounts of society in decline, include the play
The Best Man
(1960) and the novel
Myra Breckinridge
(1968) .
People know his essays, screenplays, and Broadway.
They also knew his patrician manner, transatlantic accent, and witty aphorisms. Vidal came from a distinguished political lineage; his grandfather was the senator Thomas Gore, and he later became a relation (through marriage) to Jacqueline Kennedy.
Vidal, a longtime political critic, ran twice for political office. He was a lifelong isolationist Democrat. The Nation, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, The New York Review of Books, and Esquire published his essays.
Essays and media appearances long criticized foreign policy. In addition, he from the 1980s onwards characterized the United States as a decaying empire. Additionally, he was known for his well publicized spats with such figures as Norman Mailer, William F. Buckley, Jr., and Truman Capote.
They fell into distinct social and historical camps. Alongside his social, his best known historical include Julian, Burr, and Lincoln. His third novel, The City and the Pillar (1948), outraged conservative critics as the first major feature of unambiguous homosexuality.
At the time of his death he was the last of a generation of American writers who had served during World War II, including J.D. Salinger, Kurt Vonnegut, Norman Mailer and Joseph Heller. Perhaps best remembered for his caustic wit, he referred to himself as a "gentleman bitch" and has been described as the 20th century's answer to Oscar Wilde
Also used the pseudonym Edgar Box.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Gore Vidal é um dos nomes centrais na história da literatura americana pós-Segunda Guerra Mundial.
Nascido em 1925, em Nova Iorque, estudou na Academia de Phillips Exeter (Estado de New Hampshire). O seu primeiro romance, Williwaw (1946), era uma história da guerra claramente influenciada pelo estilo de Hemingway. Embora grande parte da sua obra tenha a ver com o século XX americano, Vidal debruçou-se várias vezes sobre épocas recuadas, como, por exemplo, em A Search for the King (1950), Juliano (1964) e Creation (1981).
Entre os seus temas de eleição está o mundo do cinema e, mais concretamente, os bastidores de Hollywood, que ele desmonta de forma satírica e implacável em títulos como Myra Breckinridge (1968), Myron (1975) e Duluth (1983).
Senhor de um estilo exuberante, multifacetado e sempre surpreendente, publicou, em 1995, a autobiografia Palimpsest: A Memoir. As obras 'O Instituto Smithsonian' e 'A Idade do Ouro' encontram-se traduzidas em português.
Neto do senador Thomas Gore, enteado do padrasto de Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, primo distante de Al Gore, Gore Vidal sempre se revelou um espelho crítico das grandezas e misérias dos EUA.
Faleceu a 31 de julho de 2012, aos 86 anos, na sua casa em Hollywood, vítima de pneumonia.
People know his essays, screenplays, and Broadway.
They also knew his patrician manner, transatlantic accent, and witty aphorisms. Vidal came from a distinguished political lineage; his grandfather was the senator Thomas Gore, and he later became a relation (through marriage) to Jacqueline Kennedy.
Vidal, a longtime political critic, ran twice for political office. He was a lifelong isolationist Democrat. The Nation, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, The New York Review of Books, and Esquire published his essays.
Essays and media appearances long criticized foreign policy. In addition, he from the 1980s onwards characterized the United States as a decaying empire. Additionally, he was known for his well publicized spats with such figures as Norman Mailer, William F. Buckley, Jr., and Truman Capote.
They fell into distinct social and historical camps. Alongside his social, his best known historical include Julian, Burr, and Lincoln. His third novel, The City and the Pillar (1948), outraged conservative critics as the first major feature of unambiguous homosexuality.
At the time of his death he was the last of a generation of American writers who had served during World War II, including J.D. Salinger, Kurt Vonnegut, Norman Mailer and Joseph Heller. Perhaps best remembered for his caustic wit, he referred to himself as a "gentleman bitch" and has been described as the 20th century's answer to Oscar Wilde
Also used the pseudonym Edgar Box.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Gore Vidal é um dos nomes centrais na história da literatura americana pós-Segunda Guerra Mundial.
Nascido em 1925, em Nova Iorque, estudou na Academia de Phillips Exeter (Estado de New Hampshire). O seu primeiro romance, Williwaw (1946), era uma história da guerra claramente influenciada pelo estilo de Hemingway. Embora grande parte da sua obra tenha a ver com o século XX americano, Vidal debruçou-se várias vezes sobre épocas recuadas, como, por exemplo, em A Search for the King (1950), Juliano (1964) e Creation (1981).
Entre os seus temas de eleição está o mundo do cinema e, mais concretamente, os bastidores de Hollywood, que ele desmonta de forma satírica e implacável em títulos como Myra Breckinridge (1968), Myron (1975) e Duluth (1983).
Senhor de um estilo exuberante, multifacetado e sempre surpreendente, publicou, em 1995, a autobiografia Palimpsest: A Memoir. As obras 'O Instituto Smithsonian' e 'A Idade do Ouro' encontram-se traduzidas em português.
Neto do senador Thomas Gore, enteado do padrasto de Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, primo distante de Al Gore, Gore Vidal sempre se revelou um espelho crítico das grandezas e misérias dos EUA.
Faleceu a 31 de julho de 2012, aos 86 anos, na sua casa em Hollywood, vítima de pneumonia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
January 25, 2016
Gore Vidal, where have you been all my life? I'm a little late to the party I know. I feel like I have just discovered a new friend for life. I read Vidal's Lincoln a few years back, but I couldn't tell if I liked it because of Gore Vidal or because I love Honest Abe. This time there is no confusion, it's all Vidal.
This book is tremendous-as a devoted fan of Noam Chomsky and Michael Parenti I was more than ready for Vidal's worldview. So we agree politically about the history and trends of American politics that much is true. The real treat is Vidal's wit. Combining his extreme degree of erudition with his tart and smart writing style is a pure delight.
The topics covered in this book: American imperialism, the war economy, 20th and early 21st century history. There is almost nothing more enjoyable than when some critic takes a shot at Vidal and he gets into high dudgeon defensive mode. It doesn't get much better than this.
This book is tremendous-as a devoted fan of Noam Chomsky and Michael Parenti I was more than ready for Vidal's worldview. So we agree politically about the history and trends of American politics that much is true. The real treat is Vidal's wit. Combining his extreme degree of erudition with his tart and smart writing style is a pure delight.
The topics covered in this book: American imperialism, the war economy, 20th and early 21st century history. There is almost nothing more enjoyable than when some critic takes a shot at Vidal and he gets into high dudgeon defensive mode. It doesn't get much better than this.
October 31, 2011
This book appears to be a collection of new material and some previously published political essays by Gore Vidal, all of them concerned with American history and foreign policy, some of them more specifically with the policies of the Bush administration. As ever, they are biting, learned and often quite entertaining. Vidal writes beautifully.
February 1, 2011
A good collection of Vidal's essays, if unavoidably incomplete, looking at the machinations under way before and after 911 (It's only 197 pages long, after all), particularly how we planted the seeds of our own destruction, including the training of Al-Qaeda itself. None of this is new stuff, but it's in Vidal's breathless presentation that one stays riveted. And it's important to refresh one's memory on these points since Dick Cheney is still dissembling on and defending the ex-administration's policies, as do Fox News and their compadres, to (as Joe Biden pointed out a few days ago) "rewrite history," sticking to discredited positions that time, fuzzy memories, stubborn self-denial and downright ignorance can always allow to re-emerge as the "official" story. While not wholly accepting 911 truthers, Vidal does say that, in lieu of the unexamined truth, who is to say they are wrong? This collection of essays is not as disciplined as one might expect (Vidal sometimes uses his bully pulpit to rebut critics or others who negatively reviewed some of his other works), but he is passionate and asks pertinent (and usually, unanswered) questions. He digs fearlessly into a dauntingly immense historical graveyard in his exhumations, finding the zombies very much alive, thank you. His analyses spans American diplomacy before World War II through the creation of the national security state after the war, in the process demolishing a lot standard mythology and showing the patterns that have led to our actions today, but more to the point, our never-ending addiction to war. Vidal posits, correctly, that, even if it were ever alive at all, the U.S. Constitution most certainly died an unheralded death 60 years ago with the advent of the Cold War and all the attendant power abuses that followed. It all reads like lightning, and as a transgressive political analyst Vidal is a lot more fun to read than Noam Chomsky. If you're looking for a breezy roundup of American history of the 20th century in the mold of "things my teacher didn't teach me," then this is a great place to start. Alas, the impeachment of Bush that in this book Vidal naively assumes would happen never came to pass -- and his own examination of the nature of the power elites as he states them here should have told him so. In any case, this stuff is all relevant still, and will remain so for a long time, since it's not possible to know when, or if, the United States will ever get the train out of the mud and back on the tracks after the disastrous eight years that derailed us. And, even if we do, the ever-present awareness of our repeated inability to avoid historical mistakes over and over (sometimes even within the span of less than a generation), would make it preferable to derail rather than put the train, again, on a track bound for the wrong destination.
August 29, 2013
Whoever said ignorance is bliss expressly meant 'keep off Vidal!'. I am appalled, amazed, and sickened reading about our global machination. Having studied geography and politics overseas, this also vindicates my disgust at the not teaching of geography in our educational system. This i definitely breeds some geo political dummies. We sell free enterprise to the poor and practice socialism for big business. Meanwhile, the masses are controlled by flag, fetus, and church!! GE, Lockheed Martin and all big businesses laugh their way to the bank, while America blames 'muslims', 'welfare moms' and 'immigrants' for their taxes!! Someone should tell them that their tax dollars are going into keeping us militarily erect!
July 19, 2022
It's Gore Vidal, so I came in expecting a leftist writing like a member of the Old Right and "Dreaming War" delivered on that front. Admittedly, it's over the top but I guess I expected that. In this collection of essays, Vidal excoriates Bush and especially Dick Cheney. He draws to light various moments where we could have avoided war but chose not to, sparing nearly no then-elected politician. Some of what he brings up is indeed pretty damning. A good reminder of why the Bush administration was one of our worst in recent history! Unfortunately, Vidal, as some isolationists have been known to do, likes to indulge conspiracy theories based on nit-picked evidence. That and his sometimes-iffy historical revisionism aside, the end of this book gets better. In Section III, his essays present a clear-eyed, somewhat appealing Jeffersonian vision. Vidal strings together vociferous criticisms of skyrocketing deficits, massive corporations, and Washington's desire for forever wars. And at the end of it all, in a truly decentralist flourish, Vidal proposes something like Swiss cantons for America. While the ending was fantastic, I struggled through a few of the more out-there essays.
December 29, 2022
I definitely like his essays more than the novels. His anger is infectious. It’s just disheartening to read 20 year old (or more) essays that may have different names to talk about but contain such similar evil deeds. Remember the election of 2000.
June 24, 2024
hot gore vidal summer #1
a real shame we never got to read gore on january 6th lol
a real shame we never got to read gore on january 6th lol
May 2, 2020
“El destino de Europa y Asia no ha sido confiado por Dios al arbitrio de Estados Unidos, y sólo el engaño, los delirios de grandeza, las fantasías vanas, el afán de poder o el deseo de eludir nuestros peligros y obligaciones podrían inducirnos a suponer que la Providencia nos ha designado como el pueblo elegido para pacificar la tierra”, dice Charles Beard. El autor de este libro, Gore Vidal (1925-2012), lo cita para dar a entender que Estados Unidos no debe erigirse como amor y señor de la Tierra, y por ello reúne en este volumen un conjunto de ensayos en los que habla de su país y sus acciones en otros territorios de mundo. “La política en Estados Unidos es, en esencia, un asunto de familia, como la de casi todas las oligarquías”, escribe.
Ganador del National Book Award, Gore Vidal ha escrito en multitud de ocasiones —por ejemplo, en su libro Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace— sobre Estados Unidos por la soberbia implícita que el país emplea en su justificación de las guerras que comienza. Dividido en tres partes, este volumen aborda las ansias estadounidenses de guerra y sus “beneficios económicos”.
Vidal se muestra aquí crítico con al gobierno formado por el binomio Cheney-Bush, y sobre ellos giran la mayoría de los ensayos, al igual que sobre los ataques a las Torres Gemelas del 11 de septiembre de 2001, llegando a plantear Vidal si el 11-S fue quizás provocado para tener un pretexto para atacar a una persona, grupo armado o país determinado para, consecuentemente, beneficiarse de sus recursos. ¿Por qué no se avisó a la población del previsible ataque terrorista que podía haber?
Este volumen invita a profundizar mucho más allá en asuntos como las elecciones estadounidenses y la justicia, además de valorar la importancia de la información que muchas veces se les oculta a los ciudadanos. El autor llega, incluso, a calificar a su país como una república bananera en la introducción del libro. Vidal dice que la actitud de Bush con respecto a los sucesos del 11-S fue sospechosa. Hay quien dice que hubo incompetencia por no haber frenado el ataque. Pero no hubo reprimendas, por lo que... ¿fue incompetencia realmente? “Bush hijo, al igual que Bush padre, en momentos de apuros económicos, ha dependido a menudo de la generosidad de las chilabas...”.
Es indudablemente crítico con Estados Unidos, como el famoso escritor Noam Chomsky. De hecho, él mismo habla de las comparaciones que se hacen sobre ambos. “Chomsky y yo no odiamos a nuestro país, que, al fin y al cabo, somos también nosotros. O éramos. Tampoco somos excéntricos. Lo es la junta de Washington”. Estados Unidos, dice, no es un sueño ni un paraíso. Cualquier persona con sentido común lo sabe de sobra. Aunque ya lo dice el autor: “Estamos por encima de la ley, lo cual no es infrecuente en un imperio; por desgracia, también estamos más allá del sentido común”.
También habla acerca de la voluntad de su país por controlar Eurasia —formada por Rusia, Turquía...— y Asia Central, en concreto Afganistán. De China, por su parte, dice Vidal que está “haciendo señas”. Creo que actualmente China está algo más allá de hacer señas. De hecho, si tenemos en cuenta la deuda insostenible de Estados Unidos y las posibles consecuencias que puede tener el COVID-19 en el país —muy malas por el número de fallecidos y desempleados—, el país norteamericano puede ser adelantado por China como principal potencia mundial, si es que no lo es ya.
Igual que con Asia le ocurre a Estados Unidos con Latinoamérica. Por eso, Vidal habla sobre el papel de su país, por ejemplo, en Guatemala. Lo que parece seguro es la fijación de Estados Unidos por buscar enemigos de carne y hueso a los que demonizar y con los que justificar sus acciones: desde Bin Laden hasta Sadam Husein. “Desde 1947-1948, hemos realizado más de 250 ataques militares, sin mediar provocación, contra otros países”. Vidal no quiere más ataques ni guerras: “La edad de oro norteamericana sólo duró cinco años: desde el fin de la guerra, en 1945, hasta 1950, cuando comenzó la de Corea”, añade.
A través de numerosas citas a medios de comunicación, expertos y políticos, Vidal habla también del imperialismo, del que se muestra disidente en pro de la república. Por estas ideas hay quien lo critica y quien dice de él que es “un patriota disidente, un nostálgico de la república perdida”. Él se defiende diciendo: “No somos la policía del mundo. Y ni siquiera controlamos Estados Unidos, salvo para robar dinero al pueblo y, en general, causar estragos. En muchas partes del país ven a la policía, y con razón muchas veces, como a un enemigo. Creo que es hora de desmantelar el imperio; no es bueno para nadie. Nos ha costado billones de dólares, lo que me hace pensar que se va a replegar sobre sí mismo porque no va a haber suficiente dinero para gobernarlo”.
En otro de los textos incluidos aquí, Vidal ofrece posibles soluciones para un estado mejor. Quiere que se repartan las administraciones y se utilicen los estados al estilo de los cantones suizos.
Así, con un título sugerente y una portada simbólica, Vidal hace de este volumen un conjunto de ideas que expone sin tapujos para desnudar algunas verdades o sospechas de un país con muchas banderas con las que, sin embargo, no consigue tapar sus vergüenzas. Por ejemplo, escribe: “Nuestra tasa de violencia y asesinatos es única en el Primer Mundo. Puede que sea una singularidad negativa, pero es plenamente nuestra, y hay que preservarla: al menos somos el número uno en algo más que en deuda pública”.
Ganador del National Book Award, Gore Vidal ha escrito en multitud de ocasiones —por ejemplo, en su libro Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace— sobre Estados Unidos por la soberbia implícita que el país emplea en su justificación de las guerras que comienza. Dividido en tres partes, este volumen aborda las ansias estadounidenses de guerra y sus “beneficios económicos”.
Vidal se muestra aquí crítico con al gobierno formado por el binomio Cheney-Bush, y sobre ellos giran la mayoría de los ensayos, al igual que sobre los ataques a las Torres Gemelas del 11 de septiembre de 2001, llegando a plantear Vidal si el 11-S fue quizás provocado para tener un pretexto para atacar a una persona, grupo armado o país determinado para, consecuentemente, beneficiarse de sus recursos. ¿Por qué no se avisó a la población del previsible ataque terrorista que podía haber?
Este volumen invita a profundizar mucho más allá en asuntos como las elecciones estadounidenses y la justicia, además de valorar la importancia de la información que muchas veces se les oculta a los ciudadanos. El autor llega, incluso, a calificar a su país como una república bananera en la introducción del libro. Vidal dice que la actitud de Bush con respecto a los sucesos del 11-S fue sospechosa. Hay quien dice que hubo incompetencia por no haber frenado el ataque. Pero no hubo reprimendas, por lo que... ¿fue incompetencia realmente? “Bush hijo, al igual que Bush padre, en momentos de apuros económicos, ha dependido a menudo de la generosidad de las chilabas...”.
Es indudablemente crítico con Estados Unidos, como el famoso escritor Noam Chomsky. De hecho, él mismo habla de las comparaciones que se hacen sobre ambos. “Chomsky y yo no odiamos a nuestro país, que, al fin y al cabo, somos también nosotros. O éramos. Tampoco somos excéntricos. Lo es la junta de Washington”. Estados Unidos, dice, no es un sueño ni un paraíso. Cualquier persona con sentido común lo sabe de sobra. Aunque ya lo dice el autor: “Estamos por encima de la ley, lo cual no es infrecuente en un imperio; por desgracia, también estamos más allá del sentido común”.
También habla acerca de la voluntad de su país por controlar Eurasia —formada por Rusia, Turquía...— y Asia Central, en concreto Afganistán. De China, por su parte, dice Vidal que está “haciendo señas”. Creo que actualmente China está algo más allá de hacer señas. De hecho, si tenemos en cuenta la deuda insostenible de Estados Unidos y las posibles consecuencias que puede tener el COVID-19 en el país —muy malas por el número de fallecidos y desempleados—, el país norteamericano puede ser adelantado por China como principal potencia mundial, si es que no lo es ya.
Igual que con Asia le ocurre a Estados Unidos con Latinoamérica. Por eso, Vidal habla sobre el papel de su país, por ejemplo, en Guatemala. Lo que parece seguro es la fijación de Estados Unidos por buscar enemigos de carne y hueso a los que demonizar y con los que justificar sus acciones: desde Bin Laden hasta Sadam Husein. “Desde 1947-1948, hemos realizado más de 250 ataques militares, sin mediar provocación, contra otros países”. Vidal no quiere más ataques ni guerras: “La edad de oro norteamericana sólo duró cinco años: desde el fin de la guerra, en 1945, hasta 1950, cuando comenzó la de Corea”, añade.
A través de numerosas citas a medios de comunicación, expertos y políticos, Vidal habla también del imperialismo, del que se muestra disidente en pro de la república. Por estas ideas hay quien lo critica y quien dice de él que es “un patriota disidente, un nostálgico de la república perdida”. Él se defiende diciendo: “No somos la policía del mundo. Y ni siquiera controlamos Estados Unidos, salvo para robar dinero al pueblo y, en general, causar estragos. En muchas partes del país ven a la policía, y con razón muchas veces, como a un enemigo. Creo que es hora de desmantelar el imperio; no es bueno para nadie. Nos ha costado billones de dólares, lo que me hace pensar que se va a replegar sobre sí mismo porque no va a haber suficiente dinero para gobernarlo”.
En otro de los textos incluidos aquí, Vidal ofrece posibles soluciones para un estado mejor. Quiere que se repartan las administraciones y se utilicen los estados al estilo de los cantones suizos.
Así, con un título sugerente y una portada simbólica, Vidal hace de este volumen un conjunto de ideas que expone sin tapujos para desnudar algunas verdades o sospechas de un país con muchas banderas con las que, sin embargo, no consigue tapar sus vergüenzas. Por ejemplo, escribe: “Nuestra tasa de violencia y asesinatos es única en el Primer Mundo. Puede que sea una singularidad negativa, pero es plenamente nuestra, y hay que preservarla: al menos somos el número uno en algo más que en deuda pública”.
June 12, 2022
This is post-2001 stuff you probably know, if you are on the left. I realized I have never read anything by Gore before, as I was unaware that he has written so many novels. His style is a little flowery. To my shame, my head was buried a little in the sand in the early 2000's. I worked in a stressful job with cartoonishly Republican supervisors, and probably if I'd been in the National Guard I would have known a lot more, if only because part of the horror of the Iraq war was that folks in the Nation Guards began to be drafted.
So if your politics have shifted, or if you were born in 2001 or thereabouts, and don't mind flowery styles, you might enjoy the book. He does assert things which may not be true, but you can cherry pick.
So if your politics have shifted, or if you were born in 2001 or thereabouts, and don't mind flowery styles, you might enjoy the book. He does assert things which may not be true, but you can cherry pick.
June 19, 2024
Interesting insights and opinions from the last true defender of the American Republic
January 15, 2024
What a loss the world suffered a few years ago when it lost Gore Vidal. His writing is crucial to keeping the truth alive.
August 26, 2010
Stunning selection of essays which offer a passionate critique of the Bush-Cheney coup in 2000. Vidal shows that Bush's Government represented the oil and gas industries and also incorporated some of their leading executives into the government: "Bush Senior of the Carlyle Group, Bush Junior of Harken, Cheney of Halliburton, Condoleezza Rice of Chevron-Texaco, Rumsfeld of Occidental, Gale Norton of BP-Amoco".
The book shows that not only were Bush, Cheney & Rumsfeld expecting the September 11th attack, but that they were actively preparing for it. Vidal provides the evidence to show that al-Qa’ida were virtually goaded into attacking the US.
Another theme is the undermining of the original democratic aims of the US republic by the "oligarchy", who control every facet of US society. He argues that the founders of the republic had "invented the Electoral College so that the popular voice of the people could be throttled, much as the Supreme Court throttled the Floridians on 12 December [2000:]. "We were to be neither a democracy, subject to majoritarian tyranny, nor a dictatorship, subject to Caesarean folly."
There are many powerful historical & political insights which emanate from the author’s comprehensive knowledge of history and from contemporary developments. Vidal makes three startling claims which he substantiates: that the US forced Japan into the attack on Pearl Harbour; that the Japanese had been trying to surrender from May 1945 and that there was no good reason to drop the two atom bombs; that it was the US which started the Cold War as Truman wanted a military build up.
The book was a pleasure to read.
The book shows that not only were Bush, Cheney & Rumsfeld expecting the September 11th attack, but that they were actively preparing for it. Vidal provides the evidence to show that al-Qa’ida were virtually goaded into attacking the US.
Another theme is the undermining of the original democratic aims of the US republic by the "oligarchy", who control every facet of US society. He argues that the founders of the republic had "invented the Electoral College so that the popular voice of the people could be throttled, much as the Supreme Court throttled the Floridians on 12 December [2000:]. "We were to be neither a democracy, subject to majoritarian tyranny, nor a dictatorship, subject to Caesarean folly."
There are many powerful historical & political insights which emanate from the author’s comprehensive knowledge of history and from contemporary developments. Vidal makes three startling claims which he substantiates: that the US forced Japan into the attack on Pearl Harbour; that the Japanese had been trying to surrender from May 1945 and that there was no good reason to drop the two atom bombs; that it was the US which started the Cold War as Truman wanted a military build up.
The book was a pleasure to read.
November 30, 2013
Chomsky with snark. No, a bit more complex than that. Vidal is more conspiratorial minded, but these are mostly very entertaining and interesting essays, with vignettes thrown in about this or that overthrow by US forces since WWII. There are some basic American history assumptions that should have died out long ago, especially about the atomic bombing of Japan, which continue to linger in popular culture, so he calls them out again and again. He rightly (in my view) condemns Truman for establishing our national security state and permanent war footing, and now too many generations have passed so that having over 600 military bases around the world isn't often questioned. Did you know we have 7 airfields and 3 navy bases in Great Britain alone, which he refers to as America's giant island aircraft carrier? We need a new normal.
April 29, 2014
3/4's of this book is really good. Vidal is a masterful essayist and his ability to incorporate a literary perspective to American history is almost unparalleled. However, some essays in this book are replete with suggestions that either Bin Laden wasn't behind the 9/11 attacks or he colluded with the Bush Administration to orchestrate the plot in order to justify the subsequent wars abroad. Absurd as that is, it isn't the biggest indictment I have of this book, which is his near assertion that Bin-Ladenism is some kind of liberation theology/ideology. I guess these are the unintended consequences when one views the world SOLELY through the prism of opposing American imperialism. Fortunately for me, and Vidal I suppose, most of this book is remarkable. I wish Vidal was my American history teacher in grade 10.
November 5, 2021
I might have read some of Vidal’s essays when they first appeared, but it was still enlightening to read them again, albeit as history. Speaking of history, it was Vidal who coined this phrase on socialism in a review in Book Week on November 3, 1963: “In public services, we lag behind all the industrialized nations of the West, preferring that the public money go not to the people but to big business. The result is a unique society in which we have free enterprise for the poor and socialism for the rich.” Vidal knew decades ago that the U.S. is an oligarchy with presidents and other “elected” officials installed by the oligarchs. Few living writers possess the brilliance of Gore Vidal, shared with such biting elegance. Bravo.
November 30, 2008
Gore Vidal's view of American history since WWII gives us much-needed perspective on the actual state of our so-called-republic, which he describes as having been sacrificed for the current form of America, an imperialist National Security State hijacked by corporate and military interests which are progressively stripping citizens of liberties by nullifying the Bill of Rights, while at the same time stomping around the globe with bombs and other violence, setting up regimes, taking out democratically-elected governments, and massacring civilian populations.
November 6, 2014
Vidal doesn't seem to be at the height of his powers with this one, edging towards conspiracy theories concerning the start of the Iraq war, the invasion of Afghanistan, the start of World War II and the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan.
That said, there are times where his is his usual self and darkly funny. He was always an outstanding writer, even if he errs on his history…which he may be doing here.
It's worth the read, if one approaches it with a bit of skepticism.
That said, there are times where his is his usual self and darkly funny. He was always an outstanding writer, even if he errs on his history…which he may be doing here.
It's worth the read, if one approaches it with a bit of skepticism.
February 10, 2009
Interesting account of the Republican-masterminded hijacking of the Constitution. Shocking and at times conspiratorial, but the facts presented are hard to argue. Overall, a well-presented series of essays about US foreign policy and how our allies have historically been inconsistent and merely relationships of convenience for the American economy.
March 13, 2011
Much of the scandalous stuff Vidal writes in this book has been said elsewhere, but as Richard Wright said of H. L. Mencken, ". . . what amazed me was not what he said, but how on earth anybody had the courage to say it." A nice take down of how our leaders goad us into war.
September 30, 2007
Although Vidal in general slakes his thirst quite often in the well of ridiculousness, this is a great (and early) primer on why we went to war in Iraq.
October 29, 2007
also a bit of a polemic
Read
June 16, 2009Great writer, I love Gore Vidal's sarcasm and vicious insight into the dark soul of America's exploitation.
June 4, 2008
Should be required reading for college freshman.
Read
February 11, 2010I feel smarted after reading this man.
March 12, 2010
It's amazing how much a few bits of history we didn't get fed in school can completely change your understanding of the world we live in. Thanks to Gore Vidal for this book!
December 7, 2010
Pisses me off to no end but a good read, and very enlightening
July 1, 2011
Good topics covered in a general/superficial way. The sub-title is a bit misleading, as that most of the book is focused on other topics... specifically Vidal's general anti-war stance.
June 25, 2012
If only our population KNEW American History and read authors like Vidal, we may have avoided a very bloody and costly mess.
July 11, 2015
Brilliant, concise, revelatory
March 28, 2016
My, oh my. Mr. Vidal's pen is a terrible swift sword, as is his tongue. Did his parents mistreat him as a child? Was it something he had for dinner? A bit of indigestion perhaps?
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