Empire of Self: A Life of Gore Vidal

by Jay Parini,
The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 18, 2015

Gore Vidal, who died in 2012, was a prolific American writer and public intellectual. Across a wide variety of genres - novels, screen- and teleplays, stage plays, essays, and memoirs - he examined the history and politics of the United States and corruption in public and private life. He welcomed combat and controversy, trading insults (in print and in person) with the likes of Truman Capote, Norman Mailer, and William F. Buckley Jr.