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Narratives of Empire #7
The Golden Age
The Golden Age is Vidal's crowning achievement, a vibrant tapestry of American political and cultural life from 1939 to 1954, when the epochal events of World War II and the Cold War transformed America, once and for all, for good or ill, from a republic into an empire. The sharp-eyed and sympathetic witnesses to these events are Caroline Sanford, Hollywood actress turned Washington D.C., newspaper publisher, and Peter Sanford, her nephew and publisher of the independent intellectual journal The American Idea. They experience at first hand the masterful maneuvers of Franklin Roosevelt to bring a reluctant nation into the Second World War, and, later, the actions of Harry Truman that commit the nation to a decade-long twilight struggle against Communism—developments they regard with a decided skepticism even though it ends in an American global empire. The locus of these events is Washington D.C., yet the Hollywood film industry and the cultural centers of New York also play significant parts. In addition to presidents, the actual characters who appear so vividly in the pages of The Golden Age include Eleanor Roosevelt, Harry Hopkins, Wendell Willkie, William Randolph Hearst, Dean Acheson, Tennessee Williams, Joseph Alsop, Dawn Powell—and Gore Vidal himself.
The Golden Age offers up U.S. history as only Gore Vidal can, with unrivaled penetration, wit, and high drama, allied to a classical view of human fate. It is a supreme entertainment that is not only sure to be a major bestseller but that will also change listeners' understanding of American history and power.
The Golden Age offers up U.S. history as only Gore Vidal can, with unrivaled penetration, wit, and high drama, allied to a classical view of human fate. It is a supreme entertainment that is not only sure to be a major bestseller but that will also change listeners' understanding of American history and power.
480 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
104 people are currently reading
1855 people want to read
About the author
Gore Vidal
422 books1,867 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 130 reviews
August 11, 2009
Vidal is always interesting, but because he lived through this era (1940-1958), he's even more polemical & self-indulgent than usual. He hammers away at 3 points: (1) the Roosevelt administration provoked the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, knew about it in advance, & didn't tell anyone; (2) the American ruling class continually keeps the American people in the dark; (3) the goal of both the Roosevelt & Truman administrations was to establish world hegemony--an American empire--& did so by magnifying the threats it identified. The general idea is captured succinctly by the main character when he wrote "a piece celebrating Washington as the great necropolis of a nation so furiously dedicated to peace that it was almost never not at war to ensure ultimate peace for all time" (276).
November 19, 2013
"THE GOLDEN AGE" is the capstone to the series of fine historical novels (known as "Narratives of Empire") about America through the ages which Gore Vidal began with "Washington DC" in 1967.
The story begins at a private residence in Washington DC in October 1939, a few weeks after war has broken out in Europe. Several standouts from the city's social scene are in attendance, along with a number of powerful members of the House and Senate (e.g. real historical figures such as Republican Senators Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan and Robert Taft of Ohio, both potential Presidential candidates for the coming election in 1940), a celebrated film maker (Tim Farrell) and his former lover, friend of the Roosevelts, and Francophile, Caroline Sanford, who had wielded considerable influence in Washington politics since the days of Teddy Roosevelt as owner of The Washington Tribune. Conversations laced with spicy gossip fill the air.
Furthermore, for those readers of Vidal's other novels in the "Narratives of Empire" series (e.g., "Empire", "Hollywood", and "Washington DC"), a number of characters therefrom make an appearance here. Figures like Senator Burden Day, who though a Democrat, is a potential FDR rival for the 1940 nomination for President; Blaise Sanford, Caroline's half-brother who took over ownership of the Tribune and is, in contrast to Caroline, an avowed enemy of FDR and the New Deal; his son, Peter, who plays a interesting role in the evolution of national news, culture, and politics over the 8 decades covered in "THE GOLDEN AGE"; and Clay Overbury, Peter's half-brother and future bete noire, who later becomes a political force in his own right on Capitol Hill during the 1950s.
"THE GOLDEN AGE" takes the reader through the 1940 campaign (with a unique view of the Republican convention and its candidate, Wendell Willkie), the Second World War, the early post-war years between 1945 and 1950 (an era in which Vidal contends that the U.S. experienced a unrivalled flowering of the arts and culture such as had never been experienced before), the Korean War, the Eisenhower years, and on to the dawn of the 21st century.
This is probably the most personal of novels that Gore Vidal has written. Here is a quote by way of illustration:
"...Gene Vidal was several years younger than Peter. Each had been at St. Alban's, each had attended Mrs. Shippen's; then war had taken Vidal to the Pacific and Peter to the far more perilous corridors of the Pentagon. Now, to Peter's bemusement, Vidal had dropped his Christian name and as GORE VIDAL had published a first novel; a second novel was on the way... - p. 294 [hardcover edition]." (This was in 1946.)
There was also an observation in the novel about Caroline Sanford in relation to the changes wrought in Washington by the war and the Communist scare of the late 1940s, which made me pause in my reading and reflect on some remarks I heard Gore Vidal make when I saw him in person at the Smithsonian almost 15 years ago --- "... in the half century since she [Caroline Sanford] had first come upon the Washington scene, this leisurely world, hardly much different from that of John Quincy Adams, had been jolted by the First World War and the attendant corruption that war always brought; then jolted yet again by a second world war that had made the entire world, like it or not, an American responsibility." --- p. 372."
Of all the novels I've read this year, the more I read "THE GOLDEN AGE", the more I enjoyed uncovering its priceless pearls of wisdom through its characters, be they of the real, historical variety or the ones that Gore Vidal created out of his fertile, inventive, and wide-ranging mind. Furthermore, he knew personally many of the historical characters he employs here (e.g., Harry Truman and Eleanor Roosevelt), which gives "THE GOLDEN AGE" a solid and unassailable credibility.
Honestly, I almost hated for this novel to end. As a Gore Vidal fan, it pains me deeply that he is no longer with us, because we are now utterly bereft without his unrivalled wisdom, wit, and knowledge of American culture and politics. (Here was a man who occupied a unique position among the first generation of post-Second World War American writers in that he grew up in Washington DC during the 1930s, the grandson of one of the first Senators from the State of Oklahoma, whom he often accompanied to Congressional meetings on the Hill and read the Congressional Record to him, due to his grandfather's blindness. Vidal's father, a West Point graduate who had been one of the Army's first aviators, served FDR for a time as an advisor on civil aviation matters.)
I like to sum up my review with the following passage from the novel. (The setting takes place in 1946 in a low-ceilinged flat in Manhattan, where several artists and patrons are in attendance. Among them is Peter Sanford and two old friends from the prewar years in Washington.)
"There was a round of applause for Laurence Vail, who had finally raised the sails of a miniature ship inside a bottle. 'That's my sort of ship,' said the young war novelist. [i.e. Gore Vidal]
" 'I intend for us to create --- we'll include you and Cornelia if you want to come along for the ride --- America's Golden Age.' Peter was overwhelmed not only by his own megalomania but by the new world empire's untapped resources.
"He was promptly deflated by Vidal. 'How can you have a golden age after Roosevelt took us off the gold standard?'
" 'Uranium,' said Aeneas, 'will do just as well.' "
The story begins at a private residence in Washington DC in October 1939, a few weeks after war has broken out in Europe. Several standouts from the city's social scene are in attendance, along with a number of powerful members of the House and Senate (e.g. real historical figures such as Republican Senators Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan and Robert Taft of Ohio, both potential Presidential candidates for the coming election in 1940), a celebrated film maker (Tim Farrell) and his former lover, friend of the Roosevelts, and Francophile, Caroline Sanford, who had wielded considerable influence in Washington politics since the days of Teddy Roosevelt as owner of The Washington Tribune. Conversations laced with spicy gossip fill the air.
Furthermore, for those readers of Vidal's other novels in the "Narratives of Empire" series (e.g., "Empire", "Hollywood", and "Washington DC"), a number of characters therefrom make an appearance here. Figures like Senator Burden Day, who though a Democrat, is a potential FDR rival for the 1940 nomination for President; Blaise Sanford, Caroline's half-brother who took over ownership of the Tribune and is, in contrast to Caroline, an avowed enemy of FDR and the New Deal; his son, Peter, who plays a interesting role in the evolution of national news, culture, and politics over the 8 decades covered in "THE GOLDEN AGE"; and Clay Overbury, Peter's half-brother and future bete noire, who later becomes a political force in his own right on Capitol Hill during the 1950s.
"THE GOLDEN AGE" takes the reader through the 1940 campaign (with a unique view of the Republican convention and its candidate, Wendell Willkie), the Second World War, the early post-war years between 1945 and 1950 (an era in which Vidal contends that the U.S. experienced a unrivalled flowering of the arts and culture such as had never been experienced before), the Korean War, the Eisenhower years, and on to the dawn of the 21st century.
This is probably the most personal of novels that Gore Vidal has written. Here is a quote by way of illustration:
"...Gene Vidal was several years younger than Peter. Each had been at St. Alban's, each had attended Mrs. Shippen's; then war had taken Vidal to the Pacific and Peter to the far more perilous corridors of the Pentagon. Now, to Peter's bemusement, Vidal had dropped his Christian name and as GORE VIDAL had published a first novel; a second novel was on the way... - p. 294 [hardcover edition]." (This was in 1946.)
There was also an observation in the novel about Caroline Sanford in relation to the changes wrought in Washington by the war and the Communist scare of the late 1940s, which made me pause in my reading and reflect on some remarks I heard Gore Vidal make when I saw him in person at the Smithsonian almost 15 years ago --- "... in the half century since she [Caroline Sanford] had first come upon the Washington scene, this leisurely world, hardly much different from that of John Quincy Adams, had been jolted by the First World War and the attendant corruption that war always brought; then jolted yet again by a second world war that had made the entire world, like it or not, an American responsibility." --- p. 372."
Of all the novels I've read this year, the more I read "THE GOLDEN AGE", the more I enjoyed uncovering its priceless pearls of wisdom through its characters, be they of the real, historical variety or the ones that Gore Vidal created out of his fertile, inventive, and wide-ranging mind. Furthermore, he knew personally many of the historical characters he employs here (e.g., Harry Truman and Eleanor Roosevelt), which gives "THE GOLDEN AGE" a solid and unassailable credibility.
Honestly, I almost hated for this novel to end. As a Gore Vidal fan, it pains me deeply that he is no longer with us, because we are now utterly bereft without his unrivalled wisdom, wit, and knowledge of American culture and politics. (Here was a man who occupied a unique position among the first generation of post-Second World War American writers in that he grew up in Washington DC during the 1930s, the grandson of one of the first Senators from the State of Oklahoma, whom he often accompanied to Congressional meetings on the Hill and read the Congressional Record to him, due to his grandfather's blindness. Vidal's father, a West Point graduate who had been one of the Army's first aviators, served FDR for a time as an advisor on civil aviation matters.)
I like to sum up my review with the following passage from the novel. (The setting takes place in 1946 in a low-ceilinged flat in Manhattan, where several artists and patrons are in attendance. Among them is Peter Sanford and two old friends from the prewar years in Washington.)
"There was a round of applause for Laurence Vail, who had finally raised the sails of a miniature ship inside a bottle. 'That's my sort of ship,' said the young war novelist. [i.e. Gore Vidal]
" 'I intend for us to create --- we'll include you and Cornelia if you want to come along for the ride --- America's Golden Age.' Peter was overwhelmed not only by his own megalomania but by the new world empire's untapped resources.
"He was promptly deflated by Vidal. 'How can you have a golden age after Roosevelt took us off the gold standard?'
" 'Uranium,' said Aeneas, 'will do just as well.' "
February 2, 2013
Finally got around to Vidal's beautiful, elegaic finale to his American Chronicle series, which is sort of a sweet and sad farewell to his career and, yes, his life. This installment concentrates on the years 1939-1954, the FDR and Truman presidencies, with a final flash forward to 2000, when the book was written. All the threads of this vast saga are reconciled, and since this is the history Vidal lived through himself, he writes himself in as a character. This might come across as a cutesy metafictional gimmick, but Vidal *was* a cultural player in the '50s and afterwards, wasn't he? The tone is valedictory, and we see both the author and a bygone America not as much fading away as sailing to Yeats' Byzantium. Despite a few flaws that detract from the forward flow of the story--particularly the need to Wrap Everything Up--The Golden Age is a strong finish and a melancholy autobiographical goodbye. Prospero has drowned his books.
August 23, 2025
Gore Vidal's closing novel is essentially two in one: the first half of the book starts in 1940 when Lend-Lease was the political debate of the day, and the second covers the burgeoning world of American postmodernism set against the backdrop of the Second Red Scare. Familiar characters from the last few books feature prominently, though all of them now focus on aging, memory loss, and death. The Lend-Lease arc centers mainly around the Republican primaries, where dark horse Wendell Wilkie swoops in from Indiana to grab the nomination. Though the author was a lifelong Democrat, ran as a Democrat, and hailed from a Democratic political dynasty, he really does have a knack for writing Republicans and humanizing them. Much like Harding, the mostly forgotten just Wilkie comes off like a pretty cool guy. I loved just how much of Harry Hopkins we got in this book, and it turns out he was way more important to the Roosevelt White House than his titles might suggest. Even though The Golden Age starts off with the same sort of easy vibes that its predecessor had, there's a sort of ambient tension as everyone from journalists to filmmakers to spies try to see which way the wind is blowing on American entry in the war. Vidal doesn't hold back even with nominally more friendly presidents such as FDR, and leans heavily into detailing the plan to get a war with Germany whether the public was sold on it or not. This is something that's always rankled me a bit about FDR and it was painful to be reminded of it again and again, but in light of recent political developments it was especially jarring. He provides all the receipts for several higher-ups' allegation that the government knew the Pearl Harbor attack was coming and prevented a response in order to secure a pretext for war. Whatever the extent of American foreknowledge, it is clear enough that they did go out of their way to bait the Japanese. While the main character consistently espouses a pro-war position, it's tempered by the knowledge that none of the politicians she's interacting with throughout the novel will actually have to do any of the fighting. Things then fast forward to 1945, and while it remains an interesting, if not engrossing, book (I read this way faster than the other ones), it's all kind of sickening, dealing with the rise of the permanent war economy, Truman, and McCarthyism. There are some real banger sections in here about documenting the birth of American cultural hegemony and what it means for Americans to start venturing into traditionally European-dominated media like opera and ballet. These are the places Vidal hung around in his 20s, and he does a great job taking us to the postmodernist beat parties of the Village in the 50s, going so far as to reference himself in dialogue and then make a couple cameos as a guest character. As he loves to do, the narrative goes back and forth between politics and art, with the war in Korea starting in the background and then taking up more and more space. There's a fictional letter from one of Vidal's recurring senator characters that is just chef's kiss perfect, explaining over several pages the beginning of what we know now as containment policy and the early Cold War struggles over Greece and Eastern Europe. Maybe like a postmodern story, I wasn't really sure what the story was, and I didn't really care anymore it was just so good. Leftists morph into neocons, the security state expands, characters you've barely gotten a chance to know age out of the presidency and have the careers dashed by younger, more ruthless rivals. Much of the action takes place in seemingly innocuous settings like dingy diners, but the sorkin-esque dialogue is just brutal, notably a loooong monologue laying out how the permanent war economy brought about by Korea is going to usher in the final victory of plenty that the communists have been agitating for for so long; seriously this is Gore at his best. He then has to start killing off all his main characters since it's the last book in the series, and all the heart attacks and dementia is pretty sad, if not still really well done (particularly Caroline who has accompanied us for three books now). The last section of the book didn't really stick the landing in my opinion but it's a very cool idea, the last of the Burr clan we've spent so long with make the trek to Ravello (not Rapallo, I made the same mistake when I went) to meet with none other than Gore Vidal himself. Not for a cameo, but a genuine dialogue. Very cool concept, didn't really work imo, but this book is still phenomenally worth the read. It juggles so many different tones and switches back and forth pretty expertly. I can't imagine what he would've done with a novel about Reagan, or Clinton, or god forbid even the current administration. At the end of the day my only real complaint is that he didn't write even more.
July 24, 2015
It was like a Vanity Fair article with all rich influencers and old money jokes and none of the scandal or intrigue.
I fell asleep 8 times reading this book.
I fell asleep 8 times reading this book.
February 27, 2017
Fitting capstone for a great series. I particularly liked the way Vidal blurred the lines between author, narrator, and character. Caroline Sanford Sanford is one of my favorite characters.
December 28, 2016
Ci ho provato più volte ma non sono riuscito ad appassionarmi a questo romanzo, il cui maggior interesse almeno per me era dato dall’ambientazione e dallo sfondo storico (la politica americana durante la seconda guerra mondiale e negli anni immediatamente seguenti) ma che Vidal ha affrontato inserendo una pletora di personaggi, più propensi al gossip che all’alta politica, in un confuso alternarsi di pranzi di gala, meetings, progetti hollywoodiani, anticamere, lasciandomi le idee alquanto confuse e ben poca soddisfazione.
Interessante la constatazione, per me sorprendente, della lunga e profonda spaccatura politica interna sull’interventismo, che si generò dall’entrata in guerra di Hitler fino a Pearl Harbor, quando i giapponesi tolsero, per così dire, le castagne del fuoco rendendo inevitabile lo schierarsi degli Usa a fianco di Francia e Inghilterra (chissà come sarebbe andata se i giapponesi non avessero fatto quella mossa avventata!?).
Ma anche su questo interessante argomento, escludendo i saggi storici e restando nel campo della pura narrativa, ho provato maggior coinvolgimento in altre opere, ad esempio “Inquietudine” di William Boyd che tratta la vicenda dal punto di vista del Secret Intelligence Service, l’agenzia inglese di spionaggio internazionale.
In definitiva “L’età dell’oro” appare un’opera intelligente, molto documentata ma stranamente priva di passione, di pathos, dipersonaggi nei quali potersi identificare, con risultato di essere (smettendola di girarci attorno) un libro di quasi 500 pagine discretamente noioso, concluso con un sospiro di sollievo!
Interessante la constatazione, per me sorprendente, della lunga e profonda spaccatura politica interna sull’interventismo, che si generò dall’entrata in guerra di Hitler fino a Pearl Harbor, quando i giapponesi tolsero, per così dire, le castagne del fuoco rendendo inevitabile lo schierarsi degli Usa a fianco di Francia e Inghilterra (chissà come sarebbe andata se i giapponesi non avessero fatto quella mossa avventata!?).
Ma anche su questo interessante argomento, escludendo i saggi storici e restando nel campo della pura narrativa, ho provato maggior coinvolgimento in altre opere, ad esempio “Inquietudine” di William Boyd che tratta la vicenda dal punto di vista del Secret Intelligence Service, l’agenzia inglese di spionaggio internazionale.
In definitiva “L’età dell’oro” appare un’opera intelligente, molto documentata ma stranamente priva di passione, di pathos, dipersonaggi nei quali potersi identificare, con risultato di essere (smettendola di girarci attorno) un libro di quasi 500 pagine discretamente noioso, concluso con un sospiro di sollievo!
August 18, 2023
Potrebbe essere un romanzo storico ”a tesi”, questo pezzo di cronaca dall’Impero in cui Gore Vidal racconta, ricostruisce, interpreta la storia americana tra la fine degli anni ‘30 e la fine degli anni ‘50, mescolando personaggi reali e fittizi e ritagliando una parte anche a sé stesso.
Sono gli anni in cui gli USA passano da un ruolo isolazionista ad essere indiscussi padroni del mondo, a costo di essere in uno stato permanente di militarizzazione della società e di guerra con tutti i nemici reali o presunti. Gore Vidal dà voce a tesi scomode e per molti eccessivamente fantasiose e mai provate, ma anche mai smentite, e lo fa in buona parte attraverso i sussurri del corridoio, lasciando emergere l’opportunismo, il cinismo, i vizi e i difetti di una élite politica (e sociale) che si erge al di sopra di ogni ceto sociale subalterno, manipolandolo per ottenere il consenso.
Quello che viene fuori è un affresco godibile, spesso avvincente, che riesce a non scadere nella Storia ipotetica, anche se a tratti risulta ridondante e incline al gossip, ma anche gli intrecci sul versante privato sono parte integrante della Storia.
Sono gli anni in cui gli USA passano da un ruolo isolazionista ad essere indiscussi padroni del mondo, a costo di essere in uno stato permanente di militarizzazione della società e di guerra con tutti i nemici reali o presunti. Gore Vidal dà voce a tesi scomode e per molti eccessivamente fantasiose e mai provate, ma anche mai smentite, e lo fa in buona parte attraverso i sussurri del corridoio, lasciando emergere l’opportunismo, il cinismo, i vizi e i difetti di una élite politica (e sociale) che si erge al di sopra di ogni ceto sociale subalterno, manipolandolo per ottenere il consenso.
Quello che viene fuori è un affresco godibile, spesso avvincente, che riesce a non scadere nella Storia ipotetica, anche se a tratti risulta ridondante e incline al gossip, ma anche gli intrecci sul versante privato sono parte integrante della Storia.
May 26, 2014
Have now concluded (sort of) Gore Vidal's Narratives of Empire, finishing on a reasonable high after reading these in chronological order. The "sort of", I should explain, is due to the fact that I skipped Washington DC, the sixth volume in the series (although the one that Vidal wrote first). Maybe this was lazy, but I found it difficult to muster enough enthusiasm to read two books covering roughly the same span of time. Also, given that Vidal himself described The Golden Age as a re-write of his earlier work, a part of me would have felt more than a little ripped off by the publishers. Did I miss anything? That's hard to say, I suppose, but it didn't feel like it. Multiple narrative threads seemed to follow through into this work directly from volume five (Hollywood).
As usual, I became totally absorbed in Vidal's wonderful writing and in the interesting perspectives/theories he offers in respect of historical events. Some of those perspectives and theories may be rather contentious to some readers, I would imagine, depending on political leanings and how happy they are to park this in the area designated "Fiction". If able to get round that, this book makes for an intriguing read, with superbly drawn characters, both those wholly fictional and otherwise. As with the entire series, this gives a convincing window onto how politics is done, in spirit if not in historical fact.
Vidal does sometimes drown the reader with more secondary characters than really seems necessary. This can be somewhat distracting and it costs him a star (probably more like a star and a half). I also can't help feeling, having read these books chronologically, a certain sense of anti-climax. Burr and Lincoln are definitely superior to The Golden Age and are, for me, the stand-out works of the series by quite a long stretch.
As usual, I became totally absorbed in Vidal's wonderful writing and in the interesting perspectives/theories he offers in respect of historical events. Some of those perspectives and theories may be rather contentious to some readers, I would imagine, depending on political leanings and how happy they are to park this in the area designated "Fiction". If able to get round that, this book makes for an intriguing read, with superbly drawn characters, both those wholly fictional and otherwise. As with the entire series, this gives a convincing window onto how politics is done, in spirit if not in historical fact.
Vidal does sometimes drown the reader with more secondary characters than really seems necessary. This can be somewhat distracting and it costs him a star (probably more like a star and a half). I also can't help feeling, having read these books chronologically, a certain sense of anti-climax. Burr and Lincoln are definitely superior to The Golden Age and are, for me, the stand-out works of the series by quite a long stretch.
June 10, 2013
This is the 7th and final part of Gore Vidal's series, "The American Chronicle". The book covers the period of US history that extends from just before the entry of the States into WW2, which was possibly encouraged by President FR Roosevelt, until just after the start of the year 2000.
Vidal skilfully and wittily recounts the history of this period during which the USA became an important world power. He does this by interweaving the words and deeds of real persons with those of fictional characters, who interact with them as well as provide the reader with an often critical analysis of the times.
Though lengthy and filled with a huge cast of characters, both real and imagined, this historical novel, or novel history, gallops along; it never palls.
Vidal skilfully and wittily recounts the history of this period during which the USA became an important world power. He does this by interweaving the words and deeds of real persons with those of fictional characters, who interact with them as well as provide the reader with an often critical analysis of the times.
Though lengthy and filled with a huge cast of characters, both real and imagined, this historical novel, or novel history, gallops along; it never palls.
March 22, 2011
Great God, Gore Vidal is a talented writer. Written like a narrative rather than an essay, this novel reveals the inner-workings of key world figures, specifically Franklin Delanore Roosevelt, and his decision of whether or not to involve America in the 2nd World War. Vast in its intellectual properties, we see the bourgeoise aspects of the upper stratified class that control the state of our world, and the real aims behind policy decisions. At times the setting and writing can appear to be too intellectual, but I'm blessed to have the guidance of a trusted writer, Gore Vidal, who writes to educate by cultured means that which gets so often left behind or hidden.
September 20, 2020
This book is the finale of Vidal’s seven-book Narratives of Empire series that traces American political history from the eighteenth century to the brink of the twenty-first, and there is a sense in which it reads more like an extended epilogue than a standalone book. Without much of a plot, it flits from event to historical event, en route to wrapping up the lives of characters who, I gather,* were important in other installments of the series. There is a throughline, sort of, though the jumps in time make it difficult to pick up.
None of that matters, though, because most of the book is completely delightful even if the narrative seems a bit meandering. Vidal’s characters are vibrant and as witty as you would expect, and eavesdropping on their bons mots as they quip their way through exclusive Washington, DC cocktail parties is a hell of a lot of fun. The action focuses primarily on two fictional characters. One is former-actress turned newspaper publisher Caroline Sanford, a lady of a certain age who has retired to the French countryside and is only in Washington for the occasional visit, and therefore watches historic events unfold with a certain charming detachment. The other is Caroline’s earnest nephew Peter, who declines to join the family newspaper and instead founds a periodical of his own, an intellectual magazine aimed at nurturing and capturing an emergent American culture.
So through Caroline’s and Peter’s eyes unfold the 1940 presidential nomination conventions (in which, Vidal asserts, certain interests interfere with the nomination process to help ensure that the US enters the war regardless of who wins); the attack on Pearl Harbor, which Vidal shows Roosevelt to have goaded, if not outright engineered; Roosevelt’s election in 1944, his death, and the ascension of Truman; the dawn of the Cold War and the rise of the US as a cultural leader. The uniting theme that eventually emerges from the episodic narrative is this: All politicians are liars, and all politics is deceitful maneuvering for power, without regard for the will of the American people or even, really, their welfare. In 2020, this message isn’t as shocking as it perhaps was when Vidal first articulated it, although it remains a teensy bit shocking to see it applied to mythical figures like Franklin D Roosevelt, and it is satisfying to watch Peter grapple with it as his idealism and hope is abraded by cynicism and a personal vendetta which he likewise can rationalize as a political one.
The book runs off the rails, unfortunately, with its own indulgent epilogues, first showing Peter as an old man and lastly in an extended conclusion narrated by Vidal himself, blurring the distinction between truth and fiction. When the young Vidal made a cameo in the story, it felt self-indulgent in a cute way; his later appearances start to grate, however, and his self-insertion at the end, though he may have earned the right to it with his lifetime of contributions to that uniquely American culture that Peter pursued, is a far too pompous and dull conclusion to a very engaging book.
* I haven’t read most of the rest of the series; I rather wish I had, before I picked up this one, but I would never have committed to that. I did read two of them, Burr and 1876, but so terribly long ago—more than 30 years ago—that it hardly counts.
None of that matters, though, because most of the book is completely delightful even if the narrative seems a bit meandering. Vidal’s characters are vibrant and as witty as you would expect, and eavesdropping on their bons mots as they quip their way through exclusive Washington, DC cocktail parties is a hell of a lot of fun. The action focuses primarily on two fictional characters. One is former-actress turned newspaper publisher Caroline Sanford, a lady of a certain age who has retired to the French countryside and is only in Washington for the occasional visit, and therefore watches historic events unfold with a certain charming detachment. The other is Caroline’s earnest nephew Peter, who declines to join the family newspaper and instead founds a periodical of his own, an intellectual magazine aimed at nurturing and capturing an emergent American culture.
So through Caroline’s and Peter’s eyes unfold the 1940 presidential nomination conventions (in which, Vidal asserts, certain interests interfere with the nomination process to help ensure that the US enters the war regardless of who wins); the attack on Pearl Harbor, which Vidal shows Roosevelt to have goaded, if not outright engineered; Roosevelt’s election in 1944, his death, and the ascension of Truman; the dawn of the Cold War and the rise of the US as a cultural leader. The uniting theme that eventually emerges from the episodic narrative is this: All politicians are liars, and all politics is deceitful maneuvering for power, without regard for the will of the American people or even, really, their welfare. In 2020, this message isn’t as shocking as it perhaps was when Vidal first articulated it, although it remains a teensy bit shocking to see it applied to mythical figures like Franklin D Roosevelt, and it is satisfying to watch Peter grapple with it as his idealism and hope is abraded by cynicism and a personal vendetta which he likewise can rationalize as a political one.
The book runs off the rails, unfortunately, with its own indulgent epilogues, first showing Peter as an old man and lastly in an extended conclusion narrated by Vidal himself, blurring the distinction between truth and fiction. When the young Vidal made a cameo in the story, it felt self-indulgent in a cute way; his later appearances start to grate, however, and his self-insertion at the end, though he may have earned the right to it with his lifetime of contributions to that uniquely American culture that Peter pursued, is a far too pompous and dull conclusion to a very engaging book.
* I haven’t read most of the rest of the series; I rather wish I had, before I picked up this one, but I would never have committed to that. I did read two of them, Burr and 1876, but so terribly long ago—more than 30 years ago—that it hardly counts.
April 21, 2025
“He’s going to get us into this thing. I know it. He thinks he’s another Wilson, as if the original wasn’t bad enough.”
Published in 2007, The Golden Age overlaps Washington, D.C. published in 1967. Excellent historical fiction, fictional characters interact with history makers, giving readers insight into their motives and goals. Delves deeper than possible in 1967 when too many of the principals lived to object. Or sue. Serious students of history will find this entertaining, casual readers are warned that Vidal was the Oliver Stone of his day.
He spoke of the “surprise” attack as a day that would “live in infamy,” yet, thought [redacted], it came as no surprise to anyone except the American people, as always kept in the dark.
Vidal shoehorns in every conspiracy theory about FDR, WW2, the A-Bomb, and the Cold War even those contradicting one another. Populates his cast with enough contrary characters to give voice to a variety of viewpoints and agendas. Ties up the loose ends to close the series.
“If there’s gonna be a Greek kind of tragedy it will be because we’re letting the United Nations shove us into their wars …” “No. Harry’s shoving them, not the other way round.”
All humility aside, Vidal inserts himself in his own novel six times—with the last chapter his own first person interaction with several of his fictional characters—and quotes earlier novels in this series as actual publications. Even has other characters compare him to Shakespeare.
For the entire twentieth century, from the sinking of the Maine to Serbia’s intolerable defiance, whenever American leaders could think of nothing else to do, war was the diversion of choice.
Published in 2007, The Golden Age overlaps Washington, D.C. published in 1967. Excellent historical fiction, fictional characters interact with history makers, giving readers insight into their motives and goals. Delves deeper than possible in 1967 when too many of the principals lived to object. Or sue. Serious students of history will find this entertaining, casual readers are warned that Vidal was the Oliver Stone of his day.
He spoke of the “surprise” attack as a day that would “live in infamy,” yet, thought [redacted], it came as no surprise to anyone except the American people, as always kept in the dark.
Vidal shoehorns in every conspiracy theory about FDR, WW2, the A-Bomb, and the Cold War even those contradicting one another. Populates his cast with enough contrary characters to give voice to a variety of viewpoints and agendas. Ties up the loose ends to close the series.
“If there’s gonna be a Greek kind of tragedy it will be because we’re letting the United Nations shove us into their wars …” “No. Harry’s shoving them, not the other way round.”
All humility aside, Vidal inserts himself in his own novel six times—with the last chapter his own first person interaction with several of his fictional characters—and quotes earlier novels in this series as actual publications. Even has other characters compare him to Shakespeare.
For the entire twentieth century, from the sinking of the Maine to Serbia’s intolerable defiance, whenever American leaders could think of nothing else to do, war was the diversion of choice.
August 22, 2017
Ecco che grazie alle consuete avventure sulle bancarelle dei mercatini dell'usato mi incontro ancora una volta con la letteratura americana di ampio respiro, quella fatta di scenari molto più che di personaggi; quella di don De Lillo e di John Dos Passos, per intenderci. Ma probabilmente Gore Vidal è molto più adatto di questi due a raccontarci l' America senza raccontarci gli americani, perchè è molto più politico e uomo di cinema che scrittore: le narrazioni con una molteplicità di personaggi e di punti di vista sono più adatte alla sua penna.
E' probabilmente la ragione principale per la quale 2L'età dell' oro" mi è piaciuto molto di più che "Underworld" e "Manhattan transfer", ma di certo non è l'unica. Il capitolo della storia americana (che Gore Vidal ha raccontato quasi per intero attraverso i suoi romanzi-cronaca) trattato da questo libro è di quelli che mi interessa approfondire. L'autore per "Età dell'oro" intende il periodo che va dalla fine della grande depressione e del New Deal attraverso la Seconda guerra mondiale fino all' inizio della guerra fredda, il periodo in cui a suo dire gli Stati Uniti smettono di considerarsi uno stato provinciale ed isolato e si accorgono di essere una superpotenza mondiale, con l'intero globo a disposizione per essere dominato. Il suo approccio originale e provocatorio dissipa la nebbia eroica e favolistica degli USA di questi anni, una nebbia resa assai più spessa dalli idealizzazione che in Italia (noi, paese liberato dagli americani e sfamato dal piano Marshall) ne abbiamo fatto.
Il politico Vidal è democratico, ma democratico a suo modo (amava definirsi un "repubblicano radicale", qualunque cosa voglia dire). Ferocemente isolazionista, presenta l'interventismo della politica americana di quegli anni come una violazione della sovranità popolare, che nel 1941 era effettivamente per la stragrande parte neutralista. Il ritratto che ne esce di Franklin Delano Roosevelt è controverso ma indimenticabile.
A pensare a FDR dall' Italia del ventunesimo secolo, se ne resta facilmente affascinati: un vecchio stanco e debole, debilitato da una malattia gravissima che peraltro ne deturpa l'immagine nel paese dove l'immagine conta più di tutto, trova la forza di riunire attorno a se una nazione superdivisa e di portarla in guerra, salvando di fatto metà del mondo dalle perniciose derive totalitarie che tutti conosciamo. Ah che bello. Troppo bello per essere vero: ed infatti il ritratto che Gore Vidal ci restituisce del politico Newyorkese è altrettanto epica ma molto più credibile.
Gli anni trenta sono gli anni dei regimi totalitari, del pensiero che sia giusto condizionare (per non dire piegare con la forza) le opinioni del popolo alle necessità delle nazioni. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, il sublime burattinaio dagli infiniti livelli di pensiero, il carismatico signore dell' America praticamente senza avversari, il politico che più di tutti nella storia statunitense è arrivato ad essere governatore a vita, è stato quanto di più simile ad un dittatore un paese come gli USA si sia potuto permettere. Ed i ragionamenti di FDR sul dominio del mondo, il controllo delle opinioni attraverso la propaganda, la consapevolezza della necessità della guerra come strumento di crescita economica non sono molto diversi da quelli che facevano i vari Caudillos degli staterelli europei.
Gore Vidal arriva ad ipotizzare seriamente che l'attacco giapponese a Pearl Harbor sia stato deliberatamente preparato a livello politico, e cinicamente reso possibile da errori calcolati a livello militare, per precipitare gli USA nella guerra alla conquista del mondo contro la volontà popolare. Per usare la tensione di un potenziale nemico (prima Hitler, poi Stalin) come strumento di governo. Quanto c'è di vero? Forse non molto, sicuramente qualcosa. Del resto la politica statunitense di George Bush Junior dopo l'attentato delle torri gemelle non è stata di indirizzo molto diverso ( se è lecito accostare questo goffo sceriffone ad uno dei più grandi politici della storia umana, come anche i risultati degli anni successivi hanno dimostrato).
E attorno a FDR? Attorno al presidente c'è l' America, con il mito del denaro e del consumo, con la dittatura dell'immagine, con la sublime spettacolarizzazione di quell'evento politico e sociale senza eguali che sono da sempre le elezioni americane. Veder raccontata una elezione politica negli USA, in tempo di guerra, dalla penna di un regista cinematografico di professione è un'esperienza letteraria di livello assoluto che da sola giustifica questo libro. Che però trova altrove la sua ragione d'essere principale.
Quando penso all' America come lettore, penso all'umanità violenta e schiacciata sulla frontiera di Cormac McCarthy; penso a John Steinbeck ed alla furiosa e feroce lotta per la dignità umana dei poveri , in un paese che fa dell'individualismo e della ricchezza una misura di dignità; penso al paese che ha elevato il consumo e lo spreco a valori morali (Don De Lillo). Manca qualcosa. Restava da capire come ha potuto l'America restare una democrazia nel tempo delle dittature, e poi nel tempo dell'incubo nucleare. Restava da capire come potesse uno stato mettere una pressione quasi orwelliana sui propri cittadini e continuare a dirsi democratico. Restava da capire come gli uomini della frontiera siano potuti partire alla conquista del mondo, convinti di avere una missione (e spesso fallendo, perchè questo è davvero molto lontano dalla loro natura).
"L'età del loro" punta i riflettori del vero autore cinematografico proprio su quest'angolo buio, mettendoci in mano gli strumenti per una riflessione in più anche sull' America di oggi. Ed anche se questo tipo di romanzi sono veramente faticosi da leggere, quanto sopra è la ragione per cui sono sicuro che "L'età del loro" sia una lettura obbligatoria.
E' probabilmente la ragione principale per la quale 2L'età dell' oro" mi è piaciuto molto di più che "Underworld" e "Manhattan transfer", ma di certo non è l'unica. Il capitolo della storia americana (che Gore Vidal ha raccontato quasi per intero attraverso i suoi romanzi-cronaca) trattato da questo libro è di quelli che mi interessa approfondire. L'autore per "Età dell'oro" intende il periodo che va dalla fine della grande depressione e del New Deal attraverso la Seconda guerra mondiale fino all' inizio della guerra fredda, il periodo in cui a suo dire gli Stati Uniti smettono di considerarsi uno stato provinciale ed isolato e si accorgono di essere una superpotenza mondiale, con l'intero globo a disposizione per essere dominato. Il suo approccio originale e provocatorio dissipa la nebbia eroica e favolistica degli USA di questi anni, una nebbia resa assai più spessa dalli idealizzazione che in Italia (noi, paese liberato dagli americani e sfamato dal piano Marshall) ne abbiamo fatto.
Il politico Vidal è democratico, ma democratico a suo modo (amava definirsi un "repubblicano radicale", qualunque cosa voglia dire). Ferocemente isolazionista, presenta l'interventismo della politica americana di quegli anni come una violazione della sovranità popolare, che nel 1941 era effettivamente per la stragrande parte neutralista. Il ritratto che ne esce di Franklin Delano Roosevelt è controverso ma indimenticabile.
A pensare a FDR dall' Italia del ventunesimo secolo, se ne resta facilmente affascinati: un vecchio stanco e debole, debilitato da una malattia gravissima che peraltro ne deturpa l'immagine nel paese dove l'immagine conta più di tutto, trova la forza di riunire attorno a se una nazione superdivisa e di portarla in guerra, salvando di fatto metà del mondo dalle perniciose derive totalitarie che tutti conosciamo. Ah che bello. Troppo bello per essere vero: ed infatti il ritratto che Gore Vidal ci restituisce del politico Newyorkese è altrettanto epica ma molto più credibile.
Gli anni trenta sono gli anni dei regimi totalitari, del pensiero che sia giusto condizionare (per non dire piegare con la forza) le opinioni del popolo alle necessità delle nazioni. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, il sublime burattinaio dagli infiniti livelli di pensiero, il carismatico signore dell' America praticamente senza avversari, il politico che più di tutti nella storia statunitense è arrivato ad essere governatore a vita, è stato quanto di più simile ad un dittatore un paese come gli USA si sia potuto permettere. Ed i ragionamenti di FDR sul dominio del mondo, il controllo delle opinioni attraverso la propaganda, la consapevolezza della necessità della guerra come strumento di crescita economica non sono molto diversi da quelli che facevano i vari Caudillos degli staterelli europei.
Gore Vidal arriva ad ipotizzare seriamente che l'attacco giapponese a Pearl Harbor sia stato deliberatamente preparato a livello politico, e cinicamente reso possibile da errori calcolati a livello militare, per precipitare gli USA nella guerra alla conquista del mondo contro la volontà popolare. Per usare la tensione di un potenziale nemico (prima Hitler, poi Stalin) come strumento di governo. Quanto c'è di vero? Forse non molto, sicuramente qualcosa. Del resto la politica statunitense di George Bush Junior dopo l'attentato delle torri gemelle non è stata di indirizzo molto diverso ( se è lecito accostare questo goffo sceriffone ad uno dei più grandi politici della storia umana, come anche i risultati degli anni successivi hanno dimostrato).
E attorno a FDR? Attorno al presidente c'è l' America, con il mito del denaro e del consumo, con la dittatura dell'immagine, con la sublime spettacolarizzazione di quell'evento politico e sociale senza eguali che sono da sempre le elezioni americane. Veder raccontata una elezione politica negli USA, in tempo di guerra, dalla penna di un regista cinematografico di professione è un'esperienza letteraria di livello assoluto che da sola giustifica questo libro. Che però trova altrove la sua ragione d'essere principale.
Quando penso all' America come lettore, penso all'umanità violenta e schiacciata sulla frontiera di Cormac McCarthy; penso a John Steinbeck ed alla furiosa e feroce lotta per la dignità umana dei poveri , in un paese che fa dell'individualismo e della ricchezza una misura di dignità; penso al paese che ha elevato il consumo e lo spreco a valori morali (Don De Lillo). Manca qualcosa. Restava da capire come ha potuto l'America restare una democrazia nel tempo delle dittature, e poi nel tempo dell'incubo nucleare. Restava da capire come potesse uno stato mettere una pressione quasi orwelliana sui propri cittadini e continuare a dirsi democratico. Restava da capire come gli uomini della frontiera siano potuti partire alla conquista del mondo, convinti di avere una missione (e spesso fallendo, perchè questo è davvero molto lontano dalla loro natura).
"L'età del loro" punta i riflettori del vero autore cinematografico proprio su quest'angolo buio, mettendoci in mano gli strumenti per una riflessione in più anche sull' America di oggi. Ed anche se questo tipo di romanzi sono veramente faticosi da leggere, quanto sopra è la ragione per cui sono sicuro che "L'età del loro" sia una lettura obbligatoria.
March 4, 2023
I have listened to a few books by this weather, and this one has to be the best by far so far! It is filled with the most enjoyable humor that Mr. Vidal is capable of. In fact, it is so enjoyable, that, even when I don’t get his jokes and illusions. I still enjoy them.
The book covers US politics between the mid-1930s and 1950s. At the end of the book it actually jumps up to the year 2000 to do a little wrapping up. And at the end of the audible book there is a half hour Section called on air. I am not positive, but the voice doing this segment may be gore Vidal himself. It is also interesting that he also appears a little bit in the book.
The book focuses on the time of FDR and then Truman.
The book covers US politics between the mid-1930s and 1950s. At the end of the book it actually jumps up to the year 2000 to do a little wrapping up. And at the end of the audible book there is a half hour Section called on air. I am not positive, but the voice doing this segment may be gore Vidal himself. It is also interesting that he also appears a little bit in the book.
The book focuses on the time of FDR and then Truman.
October 21, 2022
Yes, I’ve rated Stinker Lets Loose higher than a Gore Vidal historical novel, but this feels much more slight than Burr or Lincoln. It seems a plot created around a couple of conspiracy theories that confuse the cui bono with the cui exploito. The landed gentry in this are more self-important and insulated than important and connected to reality. And the end chapter is a stylistic choice younger Gore Vidal would have ridiculed for its pretentiousness.
August 12, 2014
The Golden Age is the seventh and last in The American Chronicle series by Gore Vidal. I previously read Burr and Lincoln, both of which I enjoyed more than this novel.
Gore writes of the era between 1939 and 1960. To propel the story, he creates a fictional family – the Sanford’s – and weaves their story into actual political figures and events of the era – the Roosevelt’s, Harry Hopkins, Truman, Acheson, McCarthy and others. The Sanford’s own one of Washington’s leading newspapers. Blaise Sanford is the publisher; his half-sister Caroline was a founder of the paper. She had been away from the paper for decades when she went to Hollywood to star in silent pictures, but returns to Washington right before the war. Caroline has become close to Hopkins and her interactions with Franklin and Eleanor serve to bring the historical events into the story line. Blaise’s son Peter decides not to follow his father into the newspaper business; instead, he starts his own magazine – “The American Idea” – a left-leaning commentary periodical on the politics of the time.
There are portrayals through the eyes of the Sanford’s of the political conventions of 1940 and 1944 when Roosevelt sought unprecedented third and fourth terms. The atmosphere of the conventions of those days is vividly depicted, certainly in contrast to later day political processes. A minor character in post-war political ambitions is Clay Overbury, son-in-law to Blaise, who exploits his war hero image (likely fabricated) to advance his political career ruthlessly until his untimely death. Overbury is aiming for the presidency in 1960 as a competitor to Jack Kennedy.
Vidal delves deeply into the build up to the war and the radically shifted American role on the world stage in the post war era. He examines the theory that Roosevelt manipulated America (at the time overwhelmingly isolationist) into war. Despite our neutrality, Roosevelt used complicated quasi-legal means to support Britain, like the lend-lease scheme that sent ships and war material to England. He also (according to the theory) pursued a series of blatantly provocative moves against Japan designed to compel them to attack America first. These theories have been expounded throughout the years and there is a ring of credibility to them. Truman’s decisions are examined from the perspective how they brought on the cold war with the Soviet Union. By exploiting the hyperbolic fixation present in the media and right-wing political circles on the Soviet’s putative intentions to dominate the world, Truman and his diplomats engendered a hostile, belligerent attitude toward the Soviets that foreclosed any possible less antagonistic relations. The rise of the extremism of McCarthyism was, in light of the overblown conceptions of the dangers posed by the Soviet Unions, a manifestation of the paranoia extant throughout the nation.
The novel is the forum for Vidal to expound his conceptions of the motivations of the political figures of the time. From the jaded viewpoint of one who considers himself an insider, there is a cynical tone in his writing and the sense of the American people are utterly manipulated leaders whose self-interest plays a large part in their scheming. I found this a bit too tendentious at times and the personal intrigues of the characters a bit too much to care about. Nonetheless, understanding the figures of the times and reading a point-of-view about their motivations and decisions would make this an interesting read for anyone.
Gore writes of the era between 1939 and 1960. To propel the story, he creates a fictional family – the Sanford’s – and weaves their story into actual political figures and events of the era – the Roosevelt’s, Harry Hopkins, Truman, Acheson, McCarthy and others. The Sanford’s own one of Washington’s leading newspapers. Blaise Sanford is the publisher; his half-sister Caroline was a founder of the paper. She had been away from the paper for decades when she went to Hollywood to star in silent pictures, but returns to Washington right before the war. Caroline has become close to Hopkins and her interactions with Franklin and Eleanor serve to bring the historical events into the story line. Blaise’s son Peter decides not to follow his father into the newspaper business; instead, he starts his own magazine – “The American Idea” – a left-leaning commentary periodical on the politics of the time.
There are portrayals through the eyes of the Sanford’s of the political conventions of 1940 and 1944 when Roosevelt sought unprecedented third and fourth terms. The atmosphere of the conventions of those days is vividly depicted, certainly in contrast to later day political processes. A minor character in post-war political ambitions is Clay Overbury, son-in-law to Blaise, who exploits his war hero image (likely fabricated) to advance his political career ruthlessly until his untimely death. Overbury is aiming for the presidency in 1960 as a competitor to Jack Kennedy.
Vidal delves deeply into the build up to the war and the radically shifted American role on the world stage in the post war era. He examines the theory that Roosevelt manipulated America (at the time overwhelmingly isolationist) into war. Despite our neutrality, Roosevelt used complicated quasi-legal means to support Britain, like the lend-lease scheme that sent ships and war material to England. He also (according to the theory) pursued a series of blatantly provocative moves against Japan designed to compel them to attack America first. These theories have been expounded throughout the years and there is a ring of credibility to them. Truman’s decisions are examined from the perspective how they brought on the cold war with the Soviet Union. By exploiting the hyperbolic fixation present in the media and right-wing political circles on the Soviet’s putative intentions to dominate the world, Truman and his diplomats engendered a hostile, belligerent attitude toward the Soviets that foreclosed any possible less antagonistic relations. The rise of the extremism of McCarthyism was, in light of the overblown conceptions of the dangers posed by the Soviet Unions, a manifestation of the paranoia extant throughout the nation.
The novel is the forum for Vidal to expound his conceptions of the motivations of the political figures of the time. From the jaded viewpoint of one who considers himself an insider, there is a cynical tone in his writing and the sense of the American people are utterly manipulated leaders whose self-interest plays a large part in their scheming. I found this a bit too tendentious at times and the personal intrigues of the characters a bit too much to care about. Nonetheless, understanding the figures of the times and reading a point-of-view about their motivations and decisions would make this an interesting read for anyone.
March 27, 2020
An unusual entry on this list: not a war story, but rather the political backstory to America’s entry into World War 2 as the views of media and social elites on isolationism intersect with those of FDR and Harry Hopkins. Rich portrayals of historical figures (FDR, Hopkins, Wendell Wilkie, William Randolph Hearst and Harry Truman) give us keen insights on the political minds of the time, and immerse us into period settings (FDR getting around in his armless roller chair, the surprisingly ‘small’ feel of the White House, the ‘Queen’s Bedroom’). FDR is portrayed sympathetically as moving America to England’s aid inch by inch, even possibly with a calculated effort to provoke Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, while at the same time adroitly maintaining a responsible isolationist public political position in order to recapture the White House. Mr. Vidal drops us into period political intrigue with historical figures as our guides like no other. But when World War 2 ends, and the story reverts to primarily fictional characters, it runs out of steam with lengthy postulations on the developing Cold War (an exception is a compelling portrayal of Dean Acheson pulling President Truman’s strings to asset America’s ‘manifest destiny’ and provoke the Soviets).
Was this review helpful? I am an avid world war based fiction reader and author. You can read more of my takes at https://brodiecurtis.com/curtis-takes/.
Was this review helpful? I am an avid world war based fiction reader and author. You can read more of my takes at https://brodiecurtis.com/curtis-takes/.
November 12, 2011
This one is highly opinionated as compared to Vidal's other novels in the American Empire chronicle. The general point of the novel remains the same: That the US Govt is out for a globally encompassing empire, even if that means usurping distant lands that are fragile with rebellious or broken government.
The novel peaks kind of early. The focus being on the Roosevelt Administration; supposedly needing the Pearl Harbor attack to make US participation in WWII acceptable on the homefront. December 7, 1941 arrives about halfway through the novel, then the death of FDR with still maybe 1/3 or 1/4 of the book remaining to read through. The rest is little Harry Truman, according to my interpretation of the novel, haplessly going through the motions of obtaining worldwide dominance as the previous administration would have wanted.
Right or wrong Vidal addresses the controversies in a way that is fascinating for me. It was interesting to read the opinions of those fictitious characters living through the Golden Age. As Vidal himself lived through the time I would have to expect that more then a few thoughts or opinions like these were carrying on through the homefront. I can see this one is especialy a hot issue for Vidal.
The novel peaks kind of early. The focus being on the Roosevelt Administration; supposedly needing the Pearl Harbor attack to make US participation in WWII acceptable on the homefront. December 7, 1941 arrives about halfway through the novel, then the death of FDR with still maybe 1/3 or 1/4 of the book remaining to read through. The rest is little Harry Truman, according to my interpretation of the novel, haplessly going through the motions of obtaining worldwide dominance as the previous administration would have wanted.
Right or wrong Vidal addresses the controversies in a way that is fascinating for me. It was interesting to read the opinions of those fictitious characters living through the Golden Age. As Vidal himself lived through the time I would have to expect that more then a few thoughts or opinions like these were carrying on through the homefront. I can see this one is especialy a hot issue for Vidal.
August 12, 2015
Foi a primeira obra que li de Gore Vidal. A idade de Ouro revela um escritor com uma prodigiosa imaginação associada a um conhecimento muito próximo da realidade politica e cinematográfica dos EUA. O estilo da sua escrita pareceu-me um pouco difícil de seguir pois os diálogos jogam por vezes nos sub entendidos. Gore Vida apresenta uma visão muito crítica e mesmo cínica dos principais atores políticos do seu país. E parece por vezes desacreditar no sistema democrático. Embora não me pareça um adepto da ditadura (fascista ou comunista). Ainda no contexto do livro, confesso o meu sentimento de perplexidade pela mistura imbrincada entre a história e a ficção.
Como ultimo ponto gostaria de referir que não sendo um especialista em inglês, pareceu-me que a tradução tem vários pontos suscetiveis de reparo e que a revisão também pecou pois há vários erros gramaticais.
Como ultimo ponto gostaria de referir que não sendo um especialista em inglês, pareceu-me que a tradução tem vários pontos suscetiveis de reparo e que a revisão também pecou pois há vários erros gramaticais.
March 2, 2013
This is my first Gore and I adore. OK - I started at the wrong end of this series, so hopefully that won't spoil the earlier novels for me! I am guessing Hilary Mantel had this series in mind when she tackled Cromwell. The off stage motivational moments that Gore pioneered are stunning and stealable.
One thing that I really noticed was the way he made the scores of characters individually memorable. The George Martins of the literary world - with their castes of thousands make me struggle to keep track of all the important bit players - but Gore attaches one sentence to an extra - and I remember it for all time. Mind you, those sentences are sharp and painful and funny and real. A master at work.
One thing that I really noticed was the way he made the scores of characters individually memorable. The George Martins of the literary world - with their castes of thousands make me struggle to keep track of all the important bit players - but Gore attaches one sentence to an extra - and I remember it for all time. Mind you, those sentences are sharp and painful and funny and real. A master at work.
December 14, 2020
The Golden Age is one of Gore Vidal's novels about various different eras in the United States. This particular book begins in the late 1930s. Vidal's novels in this series have a certain characters who family line runs through multiple books and this book is no exception. The first character we encounter is Timothy X. Farrell, a longtime director of movies who is working on a documentary project to interview a variety of people on whether it would be appropriate for the United States to enter that war which has begun to brew in Europe. This approach allows Farrell to begin encountering the Washington political set and others and hear their various views. By the second chapter, Timothy discovers that his former partner, Caroline de Traxler Sanford, has come to the United States for the first time in twenty years and is staying at the White House. Yes, that White House.
Caroline takes over the narration and we quickly discover that she's on good terms with both Franklin, the President, and Eleanor, his wife. For me, this is when the novel began to come alive. Caroline and President Roosevelt are both compelling characters and the their outsize personalities and the press of events exerts a gravity around which the first half of the book revolves. This is during the period leading up to what the reader knows will become World War II. To friends, the President says he'll be happy when he can retire back to his estate in Hyde Park, New York, but Roosevelt is already deep in discussions with the new leader of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill. So we start to hear about the people who might choose to run for President in 1940 and there's at least some suspense on whether that would include FDR. Farrell continues on his quest to film his documentary and eventually is told to keep an eye on a man named Wendell Wilkie, who is a not very well known politician from the Midwest.
Vidal has a good sense of how politicians fight their battles in backrooms to gain advantages, but he also draws in other famous people of the era for walk-parts or more extended encounters with the other characters. As in his earlier book 1876, we get the view of outsiders (such as Farrell) and the press (including soon to be well-known personages such as the young Drew Pearson) as the events move forward. Caroline, has connections both with Hollywood and the political world, plus she pulls in the view of an American in exile from her beloved France. She seems to know everybody and we learn she'd formerly been a film star, producer and a driving force behind a still thriving newspaper, the Tribune, now run by her half-brother Blaise.
In a book like this, the reader already knows some of the history, perhaps just in outline, but this novel delves into the interplay of major players, nations and ideas, and through narratives, brings these events back to life. Thus, we learn to care about who will face Roosevelt in the 1940 election and how a man like Wendell Wilkie gained that position, while the undercurrent of a pending war is raising tensions both for the characters and the reader.
None of the politicians, even Roosevelt, says explicitly that they will enter the war, even though England is in ever increasing peril and countries like France have already been conquered by Germany. On a side stage, the United States has discussions with the players of an Asian war, China and Japan, and begins to play a role in these situations. In time, yes, the United States will enter the war, but Vidal shows us the underpinnings of the geopolitical forces that pushed the country in this direction.
And do the novel proceeds, first building suspense and then ushering in a relief. Roosevelt becomes a famous wartime president, but he's also aging before our eyes and his vision of the future is known to him and a few intimates, but doesn't necessarily include his latest Vice-President, Harry Truman.
The novel proceeds beyond Roosevelt's death in 1945, but one gets the sense that the mind that understood how these events needed to lead to a post-war period was suddenly yanked off of the stage with barely a handoff to his successor, Harry Truman.
But this novel proceeds, even as important characters from earlier in the book are now longer there to guide us. Hence, I struggled somewhat in reading the second half of the work, where the Golden Age of the title was invoked. Surely, a new world began to emerge from the ashes of the World War, but complications such as the atomic bomb and the clash between the erstwhile allies of the war transform the period in ways that nobody seems to anticipate. In the absence of the common enemy, Germany, the new bogeyman of communism emerges, along with the excesses of Joseph McCarthy and much more.
I read this book shortly after reading David Halberstam's nonfiction book, The Fifties, and the latter book helped explain much of what happened in this book in the aftermath of World War II. One gets the sense that Vidal himself had become weary of continuing to invent more characters and plot developments in an interconnected series that concludes with this book. Nonetheless, the first half of this book was wonderful in many respects and offered me different perspectives on World War II which I hadn't encountered anywhere else. The second half was not as strong in my view.
Caroline takes over the narration and we quickly discover that she's on good terms with both Franklin, the President, and Eleanor, his wife. For me, this is when the novel began to come alive. Caroline and President Roosevelt are both compelling characters and the their outsize personalities and the press of events exerts a gravity around which the first half of the book revolves. This is during the period leading up to what the reader knows will become World War II. To friends, the President says he'll be happy when he can retire back to his estate in Hyde Park, New York, but Roosevelt is already deep in discussions with the new leader of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill. So we start to hear about the people who might choose to run for President in 1940 and there's at least some suspense on whether that would include FDR. Farrell continues on his quest to film his documentary and eventually is told to keep an eye on a man named Wendell Wilkie, who is a not very well known politician from the Midwest.
Vidal has a good sense of how politicians fight their battles in backrooms to gain advantages, but he also draws in other famous people of the era for walk-parts or more extended encounters with the other characters. As in his earlier book 1876, we get the view of outsiders (such as Farrell) and the press (including soon to be well-known personages such as the young Drew Pearson) as the events move forward. Caroline, has connections both with Hollywood and the political world, plus she pulls in the view of an American in exile from her beloved France. She seems to know everybody and we learn she'd formerly been a film star, producer and a driving force behind a still thriving newspaper, the Tribune, now run by her half-brother Blaise.
In a book like this, the reader already knows some of the history, perhaps just in outline, but this novel delves into the interplay of major players, nations and ideas, and through narratives, brings these events back to life. Thus, we learn to care about who will face Roosevelt in the 1940 election and how a man like Wendell Wilkie gained that position, while the undercurrent of a pending war is raising tensions both for the characters and the reader.
None of the politicians, even Roosevelt, says explicitly that they will enter the war, even though England is in ever increasing peril and countries like France have already been conquered by Germany. On a side stage, the United States has discussions with the players of an Asian war, China and Japan, and begins to play a role in these situations. In time, yes, the United States will enter the war, but Vidal shows us the underpinnings of the geopolitical forces that pushed the country in this direction.
And do the novel proceeds, first building suspense and then ushering in a relief. Roosevelt becomes a famous wartime president, but he's also aging before our eyes and his vision of the future is known to him and a few intimates, but doesn't necessarily include his latest Vice-President, Harry Truman.
The novel proceeds beyond Roosevelt's death in 1945, but one gets the sense that the mind that understood how these events needed to lead to a post-war period was suddenly yanked off of the stage with barely a handoff to his successor, Harry Truman.
But this novel proceeds, even as important characters from earlier in the book are now longer there to guide us. Hence, I struggled somewhat in reading the second half of the work, where the Golden Age of the title was invoked. Surely, a new world began to emerge from the ashes of the World War, but complications such as the atomic bomb and the clash between the erstwhile allies of the war transform the period in ways that nobody seems to anticipate. In the absence of the common enemy, Germany, the new bogeyman of communism emerges, along with the excesses of Joseph McCarthy and much more.
I read this book shortly after reading David Halberstam's nonfiction book, The Fifties, and the latter book helped explain much of what happened in this book in the aftermath of World War II. One gets the sense that Vidal himself had become weary of continuing to invent more characters and plot developments in an interconnected series that concludes with this book. Nonetheless, the first half of this book was wonderful in many respects and offered me different perspectives on World War II which I hadn't encountered anywhere else. The second half was not as strong in my view.
March 6, 2019
As always, Vidal’s conversation is entertaining and builds the characters. It was a period in American history which Vidal was involved in, pre – WWII and the FDR administration. Vidal can always breathe life into historical personages. The book is entertaining and fun to read. There is even the surprise of Vidal himself turning up in the story. Read it!
March 15, 2014
Great book. Gore even writes about himself as a young and upcoming author in New York during the Golden (1945-50) Age. He does take a lot of license in that the characters correctly predict the future all the time. But like always, Gore takes you to that place. I miss him.
June 22, 2019
Excellent in many aspects. Let's not forget that he book is not a historical account but a novel played in the 'golden years' of America. Entertaining ? no. But informative and well researched like Michener's books. A very good book to read ...
August 5, 2016
A suitable conclusion to Vidal's Empire Series, and also a good standalone book.
January 10, 2016
Didn't finish
April 29, 2020
Gore Vidal seems to have written himself into a corner. That's the only sense I can make of his final novel, The Golden Age, which reprises the central characters and a good part of the time covered in an earlier novel, Washington, D. C. As such, they form ill-matching bookends around his Narratives of Empire heptology.
I doubt whether Vidal planned the earlier book to be the curtain-raiser for an epic spanning two centuries when it appeared in 1967. It's not even clear that when he published Burr in 1973, he would make the main characters of the earlier book the descendants of Aaron Burr. This may be one reason why Vidal revisited the later era to conclude the series.
The do-over allows Vidal to revisit Clay Overbury, the Kennedy-esque ambitious young man in the earlier book. Certainly, the Kennedy clan recognized the resemblance, and that book deepened Vidal's estrangement from the clan (fun trivia fact: Vidal and Jackie Bouvier shared the same step-father, although Vidal only first met her years later through Jack). Vidal always denied he'd written a roman à clef. Now, in The Golden Age, Vidal muddies the water by introducing JFK into the narrative alongside Overbury.
Vidal introduces many more historical figures as well, which is, to me, one of the weaknesses of the book. Bringing the series into events of Vidal's own time has allowed him to name-check many people he knew personally. It may have been meant generously, but the result feels cluttered; many individuals appear without being useful, much less essential, to the plot. In addition, serving as it does to wrap up a series, there is a lot of "previously in Narratives of Empire . . ." detail, especially in the opening chapter.
For a book from an author as prodigiously learned as Vidal — he's been called the great autodidact of the twentieth century — this book is also curiously careless about details. Many of these are due to the intricately intertwined family trees Gore has created to lead from Aaron Burr to the latter-day Sanfords and Days, the main fictional characters in this book. It seems even Vidal has trouble keeping then straight. At one point, a character is designated as another character's father, when grandfather is meant. Another character refers to her half-sister, who was actually her half-cousin. Yet the errors of detail extend beyond family relationships. At one point, he mentions Iceland, when I believe he meant Greenland. At another, he mixes up All Saints and All Souls. I don't fault the author alone; clearly, his editor at Doubleday lacked vigilance.
Especially in the last third of the book, both dialogues and narrative sections often read like Vidal's caustic political essays. America, he repeatedly claimed in many essays and interviews, has been on a permanent war-footing since 1950. Parallel to this has been an erosion of personal freedom in the name of security. Vidal may be right, but that's no reason to allow the prose of a novel to be so didactic.
An aspect of the book that fascinated me is the closing chapter. Vidal resolutely produced historical novels at a time (pre-Hilary Mantel) when they weren't considered "literary." The Golden Age, and with it, the entire septet it culminates, closes with a final chapter in which the narrator switches from an anonymous third person to an "I," who turns out to be named Gore Vidal. Vidal engages with the other characters, who seem to know they are the fictional creations of the author. The shift is signalized by the fact that this chapter isn't numbered, as are the others, but bears a title ("On Air" — a nice double meaning). It's an interesting conceit and coming at the close of his fiction-writing career, it's as if Vidal is saying that he could have written fashionable modern literature, but chose not to. At the same time, the shift seems to subvert the genre of historical novel. Delicious.
I realized that I've mainly described aspects of this book that I consider faults. Yet there was much to savor in this book. Although it is far from Vidal's best, I enjoyed reading it.
I doubt whether Vidal planned the earlier book to be the curtain-raiser for an epic spanning two centuries when it appeared in 1967. It's not even clear that when he published Burr in 1973, he would make the main characters of the earlier book the descendants of Aaron Burr. This may be one reason why Vidal revisited the later era to conclude the series.
The do-over allows Vidal to revisit Clay Overbury, the Kennedy-esque ambitious young man in the earlier book. Certainly, the Kennedy clan recognized the resemblance, and that book deepened Vidal's estrangement from the clan (fun trivia fact: Vidal and Jackie Bouvier shared the same step-father, although Vidal only first met her years later through Jack). Vidal always denied he'd written a roman à clef. Now, in The Golden Age, Vidal muddies the water by introducing JFK into the narrative alongside Overbury.
Vidal introduces many more historical figures as well, which is, to me, one of the weaknesses of the book. Bringing the series into events of Vidal's own time has allowed him to name-check many people he knew personally. It may have been meant generously, but the result feels cluttered; many individuals appear without being useful, much less essential, to the plot. In addition, serving as it does to wrap up a series, there is a lot of "previously in Narratives of Empire . . ." detail, especially in the opening chapter.
For a book from an author as prodigiously learned as Vidal — he's been called the great autodidact of the twentieth century — this book is also curiously careless about details. Many of these are due to the intricately intertwined family trees Gore has created to lead from Aaron Burr to the latter-day Sanfords and Days, the main fictional characters in this book. It seems even Vidal has trouble keeping then straight. At one point, a character is designated as another character's father, when grandfather is meant. Another character refers to her half-sister, who was actually her half-cousin. Yet the errors of detail extend beyond family relationships. At one point, he mentions Iceland, when I believe he meant Greenland. At another, he mixes up All Saints and All Souls. I don't fault the author alone; clearly, his editor at Doubleday lacked vigilance.
Especially in the last third of the book, both dialogues and narrative sections often read like Vidal's caustic political essays. America, he repeatedly claimed in many essays and interviews, has been on a permanent war-footing since 1950. Parallel to this has been an erosion of personal freedom in the name of security. Vidal may be right, but that's no reason to allow the prose of a novel to be so didactic.
An aspect of the book that fascinated me is the closing chapter. Vidal resolutely produced historical novels at a time (pre-Hilary Mantel) when they weren't considered "literary." The Golden Age, and with it, the entire septet it culminates, closes with a final chapter in which the narrator switches from an anonymous third person to an "I," who turns out to be named Gore Vidal. Vidal engages with the other characters, who seem to know they are the fictional creations of the author. The shift is signalized by the fact that this chapter isn't numbered, as are the others, but bears a title ("On Air" — a nice double meaning). It's an interesting conceit and coming at the close of his fiction-writing career, it's as if Vidal is saying that he could have written fashionable modern literature, but chose not to. At the same time, the shift seems to subvert the genre of historical novel. Delicious.
I realized that I've mainly described aspects of this book that I consider faults. Yet there was much to savor in this book. Although it is far from Vidal's best, I enjoyed reading it.
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