United States: Essays 1952-1992

Book excerpt: A compilation of 114 classic essays from Gore Vidal. "A marvelous compendium of sharp wit and independent judgment that confirms his status as a man of letters." —Publishers Weekly From the age of Eisenhower to the dawning of the Clinton era, Gore Vidal’s United States offers an incomparably rich tapestry of American intellectual and political life in a tumultuous period. It also provides the best, most sustained exposure possible to the most wide-ranging, acute, and original literary intelligence of the post–World War II years. United States is an essential book in the canon of twentieth-century American literature and an endlessly fascinating work.