Rating: 
Summary: Thought Provoking
Review: In this book, Gore Vidal explains his opinions on why the American government has come to be hated by millions across the world and even quite a few within America itself. He chooses the cases of Bin Laden and Timothy McVeigh to illustrate his points. He doesn't defend the actions of these two, but he makes the case that they were both provoked by the actions of the American government.First in the case of Bin Laden, he focuses on the American government's interventionist streak. Bin Laden is a man who was trained and supported by the CIA during the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, and he subscribes to a fundamentalist form of Islam which is supported by the ruling Saud family which in turn is supported by the US government. Basically we make our own villians these days. Also he points out that many people in third world countries feel that having America or American supported troops in their country to do the bidding of corporate America is just humiliating. As the poverty becomes worse, people will just become more desperate. He makes the case that we should at least pretend to care, but too many Americans are caught up in their own minor problems to see that other people have it worse. In the case of McVeigh, he thinks that Americans are becoming increasingly desperate due to the infringement of our freedoms, the build-up of a fascist-like police state, and the abuses of corporate America. As Americans see their rights slipping away and come to feel more and more powerless in a corporate sponsored government, the will increasingly rebel in the future (although this seems to have been put on the back burner since we're focused on foreign terrorists now). He makes the case that McVeigh was directly provoked by the government attack at Waco. Basically he says that as long as the government treats the people violently, the will respond in kind. Monkey see, monkey do. Gore Vidal makes some very good points, and even if you don't agree with him, it's very interesting to read. I recommend you try it.
Rating:
Summary: Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace by Gore Vidal
Review: This master of the essay leaves you wanting more - more to read, more to provoke thought, more to share with friends. This book is a remarkable find, enlightening the reader about Timothy McViegh, September 11, the state of our union.
Rating: 
Summary: Another Tour-de Force By Gore Vidal
Review: Gore is indeed at it again; with a book he had difficulty publishing in the post 911 environment in the U.SA. And while I do not always agree with the droll and yet penetrating notions that appear flow so effortlessly from Gore Vidal, he is always fun to read. His command of the language and his unusual perceptive take on everyday phenomena flavor his observations with a tasty mix of both well-seasoned and worldly wisdom on the one hand, and a spicy yen for old-fashioned common sense on the other. He is almost always provocative, and rarely shows any intent of even attempting to be either respectful or even civil. And that's when he is being restrained! Yet his finest and most useful quality is in turning his penetrating wit and keen intellect into laser sharp weapons he uses to surgically dissect specific instances of social and political life into their basic elements, and in doing so aids the reader in seeing the issue under question much more clearly and precisely than is otherwise possible. As one might imagine, with this book of essays Vidal once more renders an uncommon service for all of us ordinary citizens.
Always the provocateur, Herein Vidal turns up the heat on the current Bush administration and its controversial activities in the post-911 domestic political environment. He openly questions what he terms to be the presumptuous rush to judgment by the American government regarding the nature of a number of domestic terrorist acts, including not only those of September 11, 2001, but also the Oklahoma City blast that destroyed the Federal Building and killed over two hundred civilians in the process. Vidal argues that the Bush administration never seems to have considered the ways in which the terrorist acts may have been related to specific American policies as well as the way individual members of terrorist organizations might have been treated by the federal government. Vidal is also extremely critical of the government in terms of the troubling ways in which government officials like John Ashcroft and the Justice Department, for example, have seriously taken actions to systematically sidestep individual civil liberties in ways that seriously compromise one's legal rights as otherwise guaranteed by the provisions of the Constitution and the Bill Of Rights. As a long-time part-time resident within the European community, Vidal also warns of the increasing fracture between our friends and allies on the one hand, and the arrogant and presumptive policies and activities taken unilaterally without the advice, consent or even consultation of the NATO signatories or the world at large. Europeans are rightly concerned, according to the author, to see the current administration frittering away the accumulated good will and empathy of the world community in what seems to be a frenzy of irrational and extremely shortsighted belligerence against Afghanistan and other nations as well. He is at his most persuasive in exploring the motivations of Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh, who Vidal believes to be serving himself as a martyr for a more libertarian approach toward self-government, and yet Vidal is also quite provocative in questioning the motive s and ulterior purposes in prosecuting the war against terrorism, suggesting their actions are more oriented toward forwarding the conservative domestic agenda and in aiding international oil interests than they are directed at increasing our ability to defend ourselves against international terrorism. Indeed, for the author, such corporate greed has been the driving forces behind the otherwise mysterious tactics used to date relating to the so-called war on terror the Bush White house has employed since 911. Vidal heaps special scorn on America's media, who he descries as the cheerleaders for the government's goals, acting as an enthusiastic chorus for the actions of the administration. Vidal turns his ironic style into a tool by which one can better see the ways in which the power elite attempts to provoke, persuade, and exhort Americans into a new era of corporate-driven imperialism. And no one on the planet writes more colorfully or more masterfully about how the events that pounce upon us from the TV screen on a daily basis relate to those marvelous Jeffersonian ideals of democracy that the country was originally founded upon. This is an entertaining, edifying, and argumentative book you will have fun reading. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Gore Vidal's recycled essays filled with garbage, brilliance
Review: Webster assures us incitement distinguishes the pamphleteer from the essayist. Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace is a handbill graced with wit, beautiful prose, and occasional wisdom. Rank foolishness also oozes throughout this mostly rehashed material. At times insightful, others silly, the theme is Gore Vidal's most consistent--the transformation of America from a republic into an empire. The author exhorts the reader to see the world through his prism or to face dire consequences from terrorists and an oppressive government. The opening essay about September 11th had been denied publication in the United States. Gore does manage to sneak a few original thoughts into this particular rant, among them the suggestion that Osama bin Laden had been provoked. American publishers may have been too obtuse to realize this rather unremarkable observation is not an apologia. Perpetual War isn't about September 11th, though. Osama is only a bit player. The central character is Oklahoma City bomber and decorated war veteran Timothy McVeigh. The author draws intriguing parallels between McVeigh and bin Laden. The Gulf War had galvanized both men and set them on a course against the United States. The final straw for McVeigh was the fiery siege at Waco. The correspondence between the author and McVeigh makes for a fascinating read. New details about why the author actually did not attend McVeigh's execution are shocking, and contradict what you may have read or heard. The author's respect for McVeigh could be misinterpreted as support (as apparently happened with the September 11th essay). Gore emphasizes he finds terrorism abhorrent. Nonetheless, the author seems to believe everything McVeigh writes save he acted alone. Ever the conspiracy buff, Gore seems unable to accept one person loaded a truck with fertilizer and leveled a building. On a serious note, the author's frequent forays into Black Helicopter Land detract from the many valid points he makes. This aged left-wing lion has kept a few sharp teeth, though. Catty zingers and biting social commentary abound. For example, Gore cites the case of a 16-year-old student who was stripped and searched because his teachers believed a certain bulge indicated a drug stash. The educators' rationale was the boy appeared too well-endowed. The author notes that since the youth was not concealing narcotics, "(h)e was let go as there is of yet no law penalizing a teenager for being better hung than his teachers." This is vintage Gore Vidal. And who other than this witty curmudgeon would have noticed a physical resemblance between Barbara Bush and George Washington? "A Letter To Be Delivered," an almost sentimental appeal to a then-to-be-decided president (written just before the 2000 election), underscores at book's end an odd romanticism that surfaces throughout Perpetual War. Gore doesn't believe for one second that the undetermined addressee will follow his recommendations to gut the Defense Department, but that doesn't stop the author from offering them. Gratuitous advice, of course, is the coin of the realm for pamphleteers. If Gore Vidal ever decides to force stapled screeds (or fonts of wisdom, depending on one's perspective) on passersby, the writing likely will be hilarious, provocative, and alternately brilliant and ridiculous. Nonetheless, the tracts should at least be original if the self-proclaimed defender of the American republic wants to charge for them.
Rating:
Summary: READ IT
Review: Read this book. Tells it like it is about 911.
Rating: 
Summary: not impressed even from a very liberal point of view
Review: Good book? definitely. Impressed? no. Why?
Facts are not as impressive as the author wants it
to be. I am liberal as much as the next person,
but I can't read blindly. For example: he calls
US operation after 1991 typhoon a military war
like operation. I am from Bangldesh. It was not
a military oppresive operation. That was truly
a humatarian operation.
Rating:
Summary: Another masterpiece by Gore Vidal
Review: PERPETUAL WAR FOR PERPETUAL PEACE is a collection of essays by Gore Vidal, who has been referred to as the master essayist of the century. In these essays Vidal explains why the United States has become so hated. Vidal also explains why the United States government has become hated by many of its own citizens. Given the heinous reality of the crime committed by McVeigh, it is tempting to believe that Gore Vidal is excusing the murder of innocent Oklahoma citizens. But that is not the case. Vidal readily agrees that the killing of innocent people is wrong, and then proceeds to explain how the United States government - which he refers to as the greatest terrorist organization in the world - has set the precedent by killing many innocent people abroad (chapter one concludes with a 20 page list of the wars the United States has been engaged in - some still ongoing - over the past 50 years, noting that in most cases we struck the first blow), and many innocent people within its own borders, examples being Waco, Ruby Ridge, and even in Washington state (in each situation those killed had committed no crime). Gore claims that the important piece to the McVeigh story is that the attack was a *retaliation* against the US government for its constant harassment - and in some cases murder of - its own citizens. The author states that the mainstream media portrayed McVeigh as having evolved in a vacuum, that he was irrational evil incarnate who killed only for the fun of it. To the contrary, the author argues that McVeigh, as well as the 9/11 terrorists, were provoked. Vidal, who opposes the death penalty, strongly agrees that two wrongs do not make a right, but nor does a third: McVeigh was put to death for his crime. The author claims that yet another piece of the story that we have not been given is that McVeigh may not have even committed the bombing. There is evidence that he may've taken the fall for friends, or that he may have opted for death rather than endure what the author refers to as the most barbaric prison system of all developed nations. (Vidal asserts that prison rape is so pervasive, and so ignored by authorities, that it could reasonably be considered a type of punishment endorsed by the US government.) PERPETUAL WAR FOR PERPETUAL PEACE is one of the best books I have ever read. I highly recommend this book in addition to Vidal's DREAMING WAR: BLOOD FOR OIL AND THE CHENEY-BUSH JUNTA.
Rating:
Summary: You do not have to be a nationalist to be a patriot!
Review: FANTASTIC! Vidal cuts through the hypnotic propaganda waves of corporate media and gives Americans the real story about why others hate us and how American liberties are slowly being stripped away. He connects everything that is wrong with the country, from the squeezing out of American farmers to the mostly preemtive, perpetual strikes America wages against others.
Rating:
Summary: The facts and nothing but
Review: Gore Vidal, once again, shows he is the consummate essayist. I wasn't 10 pages into his book and I had highlighted nearly everything he wrote. While I am no fan of Timothy Mc Veigh's, I was able to gain an understanding of why he did what he did. I still don't condone his actions but I understand his motiviations. Gore's point about the current sad, sorry state of the US media was demonstrated for all the world to see when his book was actually banned after September 11 (while the country was inundated with typical, spiteful vitriol from the FAR right and that was deemed okay). Gore urges this country to really take a look at itself and examine its policies. It is these policies that have made us hated, a prime target for international hate groups. It is innocent people like those in the World Trade Center towers who pay the price for these policies, not the beyond crooked politicians behind them. He gives us 19 pages of military operations from 1949 to the present day. THAT in itself is worth the price of the book. Gore touched a very raw nerve and he makes loads of sense.
Rating:
Summary: Is terrorism the unfathomable activity of "evil-doers"?
Review: Perpetual War begins with some details about Osama bin Laden -- not the horror-film Evil-Doer, but the family connections and the historical impulses that culminated in a colossal act of rage on a Tuesday in September. Then asks Vidal: What connects this rage from abroad to the rage in the U.S. heartland? Are the political and historical impulses behind international terrorism connected in any way with domestic terrorism? Immediately after the 1995 bombing of the Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City, Former CIA and FBI director William Webster said the act had the "hallmarks" of Middle East terrorism. Although Congress promptly passed legislation that repressed noncitizens with particular fury, the international connection was ruled out within 48 hours, and Timothy McVeigh would claim to have acted alone. Scholars such as Michael Whidden have characterized the rush to blame middle-easterners as part of a reflexive association between Arabs/Muslims and terrorism that began in Carter's term, during the 1979 Tehran hostage crisis. Vidal revives the mood that prevailed for two days after the Oklahoma City bombing: the spectre of the possible international connection haunts us again. Revisiting these suspicions -- and Vidal makes it plain that there is no evidence for such suspicions other than the cursory quality of the investigation following the bombing -- is superfluous, at least with respect to the core message of this novel. For Vidal makes the case that no matter what the content of the leads dropped in McVeigh's case, what really connects the 1995 bombing to the 2001 hijackings is the impulse behind the two acts of violence and the interwoven backlash of repression that has punished us all. That backlash, Vidal demonstrates, is not alien: it comes from the fundamentalists within. (Fascinating mention here of an absolutist religious order which claims as its members at least two members of the current U.S. Supreme Court.) If a successful legal case had been made for Timothy McVeigh, what would it have looked like? The best part of this book -- a book which comprises seven brief essays -- is that case. Vidal was one of the few invited to witness McVeigh's execution. Unable to be present, Vidal attempts to write off the missed appointment: in any case, Vidal was informed, McVeigh would not actually be able to view the witnesses to the execution. Later, Vidal would learn that McVeigh could see the witnesses, and made deliberate eye contact with them. McVeigh leaves a poem as a last word, and Vidal finds in the poem the soul of bravery wasted in a bomb's bravado. But Vidal never finds McVeigh. Vidal transforms the missed chance at a view of this soul -- not deranged, but serious, as McVeigh's psychologist reflected -- into a desperate plea to the president: call the military-industrial complex to accounts, or let the soul of a people wither and die in the disappearing prairies. One might reasonably ask what is gained by disinterring McVeigh and disrupting the closure on this cruel part of history. Vidal explains that turning that page of history before its meaning is understood is to deal only with symptoms, not causes, of terrorism. At one point (p 87), we see Vidal giving a television interview on McVeigh's act. Rather than the usual reprehensions, Vidal begins with WHY? The sophistication of the book comes from the ability to ask a question so simple. ABC pulls the plug as Vidal speaks. This book is brief, but what really makes it a page-turner is Vidal's fluid writing. To paraphrase Quentin Crisp, the great adjunct to Vidal's style is his vocabulary. One could nit-pick and point out that the tediously ordered term "men, women, and children" is used five times when a post military-industrial world will simply see "people" -- but that would put the reviewer at risk of appearing to comfort the "irritable ladies" Vidal reprehends for their obsessive interest in normative linguistics. As McVeigh writes to Vidal, "Back to your letter, I had never considered your age as an impediment...." -- and then forgives Vidal's use of a manual typewriter: "Not to worry, recent medical studies tell us that Italy's taste for canola oil, olive oil and wine helps extend the average lifespan and helps prevent heart disease in Italians -- so you picked the right place to retire to."
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