Rating: 
Summary: Illogic
Review: Pouty,
Didn't anyone teach you in school that character assassination does not win an argument? Ad hominem attacks are never valid. Even if the the things you say about Vidal were true, your argument doesn't address his points. No matter how you smear the man, it doesn't make him wrong.
This is elementary logic.
Rating: 
Summary: Americana Romanum
Review: Readers should understand the correlation between Roman history of empire and America's. One reviewers skin is a little too thin if they turn a book review into a paregoric about the writers' failure and forget to see the truth in Vidal's message amidst the honeyed vitriol. Vidal IS our only Suetonious, our only Tiriesias. I think we can indulge the man- forget the disgruntled reviewers' puritanical false rectitude which passes for discourse. Instead, enjoy the incisive wit a la Twain that Vidal brings to a subject larded with the detritus of America's lust for self righteousness.
Rating:
Summary: Gore Vidal's American Reality Check
Review: The beauty of Vidal's volume is that it establishes signposts, dates, events, places marking historically important events. To say that the American empire is in decline sounds like just more left-wing doctrine. To document that assertion, Vidal places a date--September 16, 1985--during the roaring, go-go, Reagan years--when America changed from a creditor to a debtor nation, and has been there ever since.Combining dates with events and revealations of the names and identities of the men behind the men in power marks a significant departure by documenting the rise and fall. The fear of accepting the reality of failure is a heavy burden empires must accept. Like the lives of people, empires do not go on forever. Americans cannot imagine a world without American military, political and economic hegemony (this is what happens when one believes the hype). Vidal traces the history--the 1914 shift of capital from New York to London, the men of power who created American foreign policy, the establishment of the national security state in 1947 and the place of America in the world. He ends with practical solutions to the decline and fall. Vidal's style is hard-hitting, real, well-documented and informed. The volume is worth reading and re-reading. The sinking feeling, the giant sucking sound of America heading south is on every page. The "Decline and Fall" is the ultimate reality check.
Rating: 
Summary: Astute and Relevant.
Review: This collection of six essays and speeches by America's most astute and acerbic critic, though somewhat dated, (written from 1987-92) still manages to pack a powerful and relevant punch directly at what Vidal perceives to be the reasons for America's political, cultural and economic continuing downward spiral. He states in the Preface that his intention is to "...put into historical perspective the state of our nation and what can be done to salvage it." (p.5) In the essay, The National Security State, he explains its history and formation and its official start in the National Security Act of 1947; this was a blueprint created after WW2, which the country had never seen before. This doctrine, (only declassified in 1975) grants the pentagon unlimited power and spending on "defence" against the Soviet Union during peacetime. To justify such a massive spending on weapons, part of the document states that the American society had to be "mobilized" to fight communism. This, of course, manifested in the form of media-generated propaganda, creating fear in the hearts of ordinary Americans, to justify high taxes to pay for defence during peacetime. Vidal writes, "...thanks to the brainwashing of the national security state's continuing plan, Americans have a built-in horror of the Evil Empire, which the press and the politicians have kept going for forty years." Now that this particular "Evil Empire" has unfortunately fallen, we currently have a new "Axes of Evil" to justify billions of dollars spent on "defence". It is impossible to cite all of Vidal's arguments in the space provided. However, rather than merely list everything wrong with America, he offers solutions, albeit radical solutions, to some of the problems. For example, the campaign-funding system for presidential candidates is fundamentally problematic, as it opens the door for corruption at every turn. If a candidate doesn't want to be bought, he shouldn't take campaign donations from specialist and corporate groups. In other democratic countries, including Australia, the taxpayers provide campaign funds and the actual four to six week campaign is broadcast on public television. This ensures that no special interest group can tarnish a politician with promises of unlimited cash for unlimited airtime on commercial television. The campaign is short and "corporate free". This one solution he offers, however, to my mind, would fundamentally pave the way to a less corruptive and more democratic system. Vidal is deeply concerned about the United States and its perceived decline. The problems he writes about are real, and his solutions, though radical on face value, are pragmatic and workable. These essays strike right at the heart of the matter and despite being somewhat dated, are relevant today.
Rating:
Summary: Gore Vidal is the real thing!!!
Review: This is a must read for all thinking people as we approach the new century. Vidal makes some bold statements, but he rightly notes that when our government fails to serve the people's interests, it is our DUTY to topple it and create another. His prose is entertaining, and easy to read, and he can back up his ideas with fact. Vidal for President!
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