He threw as much offense and vitriol at his opponents as he received. He was an intellectual who enjoyed matching his wits against the likes of Norman Mailer and William Buckley in debates about religion, sex, and politics.Īnd Vidal had no qualms about fighting fire with fire. Gore Vidal loved to write about America’s public and private life. He enrolled in the army, became the first mate on a ship and, as he traversed the area between San Francisco Bay and the Aleutian Islands, wrote ‘Williwaw’, his first novel. Vidal got his chance to serve his country when he was 17. WW II forced him to return to the United States. The author regrets not staying in Europe longer. The author got to traverse Europe as a young man and Rome had such an impact on him that it featured heavily in a number of his literary creations.

Vidal’s love for Italy and, in particular, Rome was well documented. This was partly because of his grandfather Thomas Pryor Gore who went blind at one point and required young Vidal to read aloud to him. The author started reading at a young age. Nina Gore was married again on two separate occasions, with the marriages giving Gore Vidal a few half-siblings.

Vidal’s mother, who divorced his father in 1935, was an actress who had the fortune of appearing on Broadway. Vidal’s father was a military man, a lieutenant at a Military Academy in the United States. Two years later the author became Gore Vidal, choosing to discard his other names because he believed an author needed something sharp and succinct for a name if people were to remember him. It wasn’t until he was baptized at the age of 13 at Albans that he got the name ‘Gore’. At birth, Gore was christened Eugene Louis Vidal. Gore Vidal was born to Eugene Luther Vidal and Nina Gore at West Point in New York. Born in 1925, Vidal rarely had any kind words for his nation, often referring to the United States as a decadent empire ruled by a militaristic dictatorship. Gore Vidal was an American author who was best known for his political commentary and television appearances.

Paths of Resistance (With: Isabel Allende,Charles McCarry)īuckley vs. The Second American Revolution and Other Essays, 1976-1982 The Decline and Fall of the American Empire

Thieves Fall Out by Cameron Kay