Rating: 
Summary: A vital Vidal read....
Review: I saw Gore Vidal talking about this book a while back and realized a good deal of what he is saying mirrored my own thoughts about our country and its government, in particular. I'd wager a lot of Americans feel the same way but we seem to have lost our voice and our willingness to question our government. A recent interview I saw with Studs Terkel on Phil Donhue's show commented directly on that very subject. He said he felt that until a major voice comes out and addresses an issue, we are prone to sit quietly. Vidal's voice needs to be heard and wouldn't have been if American publishers had any thing to say about it. After this collection of essays became a best seller in Italy, he was then approached about an American publication and voila!---we can read what some might call an unpatriotic and ungrateful voice about America. A fundamental right we have as Americans is the privilege to question our government's decisions yet we seem to sit around quietly and compliantly while our presidents act aggressively toward other nations, deeming our country the international policeman for the world community. These opinions are called unpatriotic especially after the events of 9-11 but there is nothing unpatriotic about what Mr. Vidal is saying. The people who have blinders on and think that we, these United States of America, are never wrong should read this book. We, like any other nation, have flaws. It is time to look at those flaws, address the issues and hold our government responsible for its actions. This government represents the people and we should have our say. Unfortunately, with good ole Dubya and his cowboy mentality, we have four years that should inspire us to speak out against injustice. I highly recommend this book to anyone who cares about the direction our nation is taking.
Rating:
Summary: Vidal Certainly Gives Something to Think About
Review: In Vidal's Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace, we see a vision of America as a place where cover-ups prevail and America brings about it's own destruction--from the inside out. Vidal pushes the evelope with his characteristically smooth language and wry comments. Vidal explores the idea that the people who commit acts of terror are bred out of government's interaction with American society and that they are not the derranged psychopaths the media portrays them to be. Focusing on Timothy McVeigh, Vidal shows how human one such "evil" man is. Vidal ocassionally rants of conspiracy theories, but generally offers good insight into McVeigh's intentions. Vidal also focuses on the loss of civil liberties, something which he contends has been going on with great force since the 1960's.
Although Vidal's arguments have a few holes (and he does try to keep them to a minimum with hard facts backing up most of his arguments), he offers a unique and clear perspective on American government. It is easy to lose ones self in his sleek writing style, but at the end of the book one finds that more than anything else Mr. Vidal has exposed some real food-for-thought. Political views aside, I wholeheartedly recommend this book. I believe that if nothing else, one walks away after reading this book with a genuine desire to question and reason with one's own political beliefs. All things considered, it was a pleasure to read.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Just For Commies
Review: Because of today's climate of non-debate, this book was labeled "pinko" by the very people who would gain the most by reading it. I highly recommend PERPETUAL WAR to those who generally stick to authors like Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter. Not only will it expose them to a different viewpoint, it'll do so in a way that won't leave them feeling insulted. Pat Buchanan fans will also feel some kinship with this book.
Rating:
Summary: Not perfect but asks the right questions
Review: I bought this book a few months after the terrorist attacks of September 11th because of the second half of its title, "How We Came To Be So Hated". Like most Americans, this is a question I continuously asked myself during and after September 11th, and as much as I wanted to believe the official, "Oh they're just jealous of us" explanation it was simply inadequate. In this collection of witty and often self-congratulating essays Vidal does an admirable job of answering that question. His conclusions about why so many foreign nationals hate the United States are hardly revealing to anyone who has read and researched in this area. The truly interesting part of this book, however, is Vidal's focus on domestic terrorism in America and especially the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995. Vidal corresponded with the notorious Oklahoma City bomber, Timothy McVeigh and gained much insight as to his motives for murdering so many of his fellow citizens. During the course of his communication with McVeigh, Vidal came to the same powerful conclusions about him, as did his lawyer Stephen Jones. Chief among these was the belief that McVeigh did not act alone, and that he was responding to what he felt was a rogue government that was out to destroy the lives of rural American families. Vidal points out that McVeigh came from a family of dispossessed farmers from upstate New York and that many of the people with whom he collaborated shared a similar status in the Midwest. Many families lost their farms to large agricultural conglomerates whose efforts to destroy family farms and then consolidate them were fully supported by the government. As a result, according to Vidal, millions of rural American know that their way of life is being destroyed, but they don't have a clear perception of who is doing this and how they are doing it. Consequently, radical militant fringe groups have gained tremendous popularity by advocating violence against perceived enemies including minorities and the federal government. Vidal concludes that while attacks from al Quaeda and domestic terrorist groups bear no relationship to each other they do have much in common including a powerful hatred of American government policies and a willingness to view civilian targets as collateral damage. Anyone who finds Vidal's reasoning to be absurd should probably check out sociologist Mark Jurgensmeyer's book, "Terror in the Mind of God". Jurgensmeyer's conclusion--that among other things, terrorists around the globe share powerful feelings of humiliation, a sense of impending marginalization, and the conviction that they are engaged in an apocalyptic "all or nothing" struggle against their oppressors--strongly supports much of Vidal's thinking in this book. Vidal may not have all the right answers and I'm not sure to what extent I agree with many of his conclusions, but because he is one of the view voices in public life who is asking the right questions, I strongly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Not Just For Commies
Review: Because of today's climate of non-debate, this book was labeled "pinko" by the very people who would gain the most by reading it. I highly recommend PERPETUAL WAR to those who generally stick to authors like Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter. Not only will it expose them to a different viewpoint, it'll do so in a way that won't leave them feeling insulted. Pat Buchanan fans will also feel some kinship with this book.
Rating:
Summary: Vanishing Liberties.
Review: What has made America a great nation in the eyes of the world over the last two hundred years, is not its major technological advances, it competent military or its advances in all the arts, but its original pure ideals on what constitutes a free society, and the inalienable rights of the individual living in that society. The founding fathers of the United States knew all too well the corruptive nature of power. The creation of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights would ensure that those within its government seeking absolute power could be kept in check. In this ideal society, the state has limited power over its citizens, but just enough power to maintain peace within its borders. What is shocking about this short collection of essays by Gore Vidal, is he soberly illustrates with hard fact examples, particularly since the Oklahoma bombing and the events of 9/11, that the Bill of Rights and the important principles it states, protecting the rights of all citizens, is being manipulated to serve a small elite. The people are slowly, over time, losing their rights, because it is said, for their own protection. As a child growing up in the United States, there were three things I was taught, and that was always to respect the rights of others, always say please and thank you, and Governments always lie. "Never believe a politician, son. Because no matter what they say, there is always a hidden agenda." Time and again, this simple statement has turned out to be true. Sometimes their lies are found out. As a people, however, we have a tendency to forgetfulness, a kind of in-built amnesia, to then blindly vote our dubious leaders back into office. Facing the awful truth, in most cases, is much too hard, because it is easier to accept sugarcoated reasons, media-generated propaganda, and not take responsibility and face the fact that at least part of the problem is with us. Vidal points out that there has been nearly two hundred 'incursions' since 1945..."in which the United States has been the aggressor." As he states in the introduction, "It is the law of physics (still on the books when last I looked) that in nature there is no action without reaction. The same appears in human nature - that is, history." (ix) Might the two terrible events of Oklahoma and 9/11 be the result of past military 'incursions' by the U.S. and her allies in other countries? I found this collection of essays to be both incredibly disturbing and enlightening at the same time. In fact, after finishing the book, sleep became difficult. I don't know whether the United States knows it or not, because it is the most powerful nation in the world, and therefore an example to us all, what they do or not do, affects the entire planet. Australia has always looked to America as an example, (whether we care to admit it or not) and I don't like where our big brother is leading us at the moment. The basic premise of Vidal's book is the ultimate damage from terrorism is not a physical one, but the true knockout blow is our vanishing liberties. Those in power submit that we must sacrifice or freedoms because we're at war. I submit, without our God given liberties, our rights as contributing members of society; war is moot, because there's nothing else worth fighting for.
Rating:
Summary: The Irony behind war and peace
Review: Gore Vidal makes interesting points involving the irony between war and peace. In his collection of essay's Mr.Vidal investigates the Oklahoma City Bombing and September 11. Mr.Vidal presents facts that the main stream media has not covered. This book gives the public information that the government has tried to manipulate. Gore Vidal looks beyond the acts of "evil-doers" and relates the United States belief of "Perpetual War For Perpetual Peace", as the motives behind September 11th and the Oklahoma City Bomning. Gore Vidal touches on the effects of September 11th and the Oklahoma City Bomoing and how it relates to the Bill of Rights. This book is an eye opener and will motivate you to become more informed in the role of the United States
Rating:
Summary: Poignant and Prophetic
Review: I was first drawn to this book because it claimed to have an answer to a most appropriate question: "How We Got To Be So Hated". While Vidal engaged in full on Bush-bashing and added clever anecdotes about the ills of our society, I still find myself searching for the answer.
Vidal's work is met with considerable controversy, as he attempts to explore and deconstruct the great flaws in our nation. He includes Timothy McVeigh and 9/11 in his analysis, and shows no modesty in conveying his own opinions. While reading the book, I felt that I was able to get a real sense of Mr. Vidal as a person. At times he reveals himself as a die-hard liberal/Bush-hater, but at others, he is sensitive and insightful. I admired how Mr. Vidal look to our American history to explain our present and future state of affairs. If nothing else, it is obvious that the power of hindsight is a quality Mr. Vidal values.
The last line of "A Letter to Be Delivered" is a most poignant and, I believe, prophetic statement. It is: "We are now in, the president tells us, 'a long war'--presumably to the end." This assertion does not at all match the satiric and biting tone of the rest of the essays, but it does communicate to the reader that this "perpetual war" cannot go on forever.
Rating:
Summary: America the hated
Review: For those who have recently felt there was something distasteful about the information being spoonfed to them by the American Media Conglomerate, Vidal provides welcome insight into the real reasons behind 9/11 and the Oklahoma City bombing. Much of the book deals with Tim McVeigh and why he did what he did, and Vidal (who corresponded with him just before his execution) provides a much different picture of the man than was presented (a friend of mine had met with McVeigh once, and concurs with Vidal's portrait of the convicted bomber). Perhaps the main thrust of this book is that these incidents were not isolated examples of lone nutcases, but symptoms of a much larger problem. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
Rating:
Summary: A good starting point.
Review: The War on Terror cannot be summed up with jingoist phrases like, "You're either with us, or you're with the terrorists." Terrorists who undoubtedly commit evil acts, nonetheless do not simply do what they do because they are 'evildoers'. The rollbacks of Civil Liberties in the US in the name of the Patriot Act are dangerously reminescent of similar rollbacks prior to World War II in other countries. Vidal provides a starting off point for those who sense that the answers provided for the masses as to why and how the US has been pummeled with terror, are not quite fulfilling. His second 'pamphlet', (Dreaming War), goes into more detail, with the eye of a historian and veteran who lived through World War II.
|
