Last Empire Essays, 1992-2000

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant and stupid, energizing and annoying
Review: Vidal is turning into the most important essayist in American history. His prose can crackle with wit and insight. No one understands politics better than he. He can also be a curmudgeon, a nasty critic, a meanspirited bully, and a deliberate contrarian. His essay on John Updike comes across as a juvenile attack with no purpose save to belittle. His take on the events at Waco is so far out and absurd that I can only question his sincerity and/or his sanity. The recent article in Vanity Fair on Timothy McVeigh by Vidal (not included here) is ludicrous (Vidal suggests conspiracy and that McVeigh did not act alone) and grossly insensitive/indifferent to the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing. Then again, Vidal can be right on target (and often is) when he writes on political and entertainment figures. I laughed several times at his characterizations and descriptions. Never boring, sometimes deliberately antagonizing, always a good read, this volume will keep you reading late into the night.

Rating:
Summary: A last hurrah for the old century and a forcast for the new.
Review: Vidal still skewers sacred cows with a relish wherever he finds them, on the politically correct left or the fundamentalist right. When he takes on the American Empire he is like a reincarnation of Mark Twain. But for me, the three most important chapters were serious reflections on the current state of the Union and its future. The titles speak for themselves, Chaos, Shredding The Bill of Rights, and The New Theocrats. The decline and fall of the American empire may occur more quickly than that Rome. We need Adams, Jefferson and Madison, but all we seem to find are political hacks like Slick Willie, Little Al Junoir and The Chappaquidic Kid.