Rating: 
Summary: Golden Gore
Review: "Golden lads and girls all must, as chimney sweepers, come to dust." And so it is with Gore Vidal and his bright and shining fictional characters of "Washington, D.C." who conclude their lives in what Vidal considers the only war-free Golden Age 1945-1951. "Golden Age" despite the increasing infirmities of the characters, is a lively book. I have a special place for Vidal; in spite of his monumental conceits, his brilliance sweeps one along. On the conceit front, he actually gives himself a cameo part noting that poor fictional Peter Sandford has gone to fat, but Vidal is imperially slim. I had to smile, as the real-life Vidal has always had a weight problem. Most of the publicity on this book concerns whether FDR "knew" in advance of the attack on Pearl Harbor. There is a nicety here that the publicists overlook. Vidal maintains President Roosevelt "knew" there would be an attack in the Pacific, but not where. His best guess was the Philippines. To me, this is an important difference and casts a much more kindly light on FDR. Vidal's unusual take (negative) on Harry Truman is worth the price of the book. As always, Vidal is waspish with historical characters that do not meet with his approval. I vividly recall my shock at his unfavorable view of Thomas Jefferson in "Burr." He has satirist Dawn Powell, in a two-page monologue, doing a non-stop hilariously wicked take on Ernest Hemingway. I don't know if Vidal is quoting Powell direct or if we are hearing Vidal speaking through Powell, but whatever it is, one of them (or both) are masters of invective. "Golden Age" is an entertaining and thoughtful read. The history is precise and the conclusions are compelling. If you like your history with a dash of wry, this is the book for you. Recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Not "Lincoln", but enjoyable.
Review: "The Golden Age" is a not breathtaking work of historical fiction as Vidal's "Lincoln" was. "Lincoln" was a meditation of the political and moral genius of Abraham Lincoln. In awe of his subject, Vidal was able to resist his usual cynicism and didacticism. "The Golden Age" however, is marked by anecdote, innuendo, and gossip. This is because Vidal was a contemporary of the events described in the novel. Indeed, he himself appears as a character several times throughout the book. In a strange stylistic device, Vidal, the character / author, usurps the narrative function from his alter ego, Peter Sanford, in the last chapter of the book. Although Vidal's suspicions that the U.S. government strives to keep us in a state of perpetual crisis are a bit much, his views are somewhat entertaining from a narrative perspective. And who or what is the manipulative Clay Overby supposed to represent? America's innate prediliction to fascism? Or our society's penchant to become infatuated with surface beauty? "The Golden Age" will give you plenty to talk about and maybe that is Vidal's goal -- to get us to return to the lost art of intellectual discussion.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed with Vidal
Review: Although this novel provides interesting insights into how at least some people were thinking in the 1940's, and some equally interesting anecdotal material regarding the great and near great Americans of the time, it fails as a novel. Its principal characters are no more than stick figures; they never come alive, never make the reader care about what happens to them. They are little more than mouthpieces for Vidal to bring out his views of some of the happenings the age -- e.g. the theory that the attack on Pearl Harbor was deliberately instigated by the Roosevelt administration and that efforts to provide advance warning to those directly affected were deliberately thwarted as part of a master plan to get us into the war. Vidal's views on Truman are equally negative, to the point of being outrageous, but views of these kinds and the anecdotes that support them provide virtually all of the interest that the book offers. Vidal can -- and has -- done much better (e.g. Burr, Lincoln, 1876).
Rating: 
Summary: VINTAGE VIDAL: EXPOSITORY AND ENTERTAINING
Review: Following on the heels of "Burr," Lincoln," "Empire," and "Washington, D.C.," among others, we now have another fictional take on American history from one whom some have dubbed the penultimate curmudgeon. Whether that sobriquet is true or not, one thing is for sure - he is always entertaining and enlightening. He does make us think! However, this audiobook is even more than entertaining and enlightening - it's a terrific listen as rendered by Broadway actress Kathryn Walker. Her inflections are perfect, and she has those Gore-isms down pat. She not only reads with skill but also with understanding. A particularly delicious reading occurs in the section in which Vidal places himself in his own saga. All in all, a topnotch tale offered by an A-one performer.
Rating:
Summary: Less-than-first-rate Vidal
Review: Gore Vidal is a national treasure and one of my favorite authors, but this is the most disappointing of his novels that I have read. The first hundred pages or so consist of Washington cocktail-party chatter circa 1940, and it doesn't get much better as it goes along. The characters seem oddly detached from the epochal events unfolding around them, and as a result the reader cares little about them. There is much to be said about the machinations of the ruling powers during the period covered in this book; perhaps a work of fiction, although based on fact, is not the proper forum to explore them, as master essayist Vidal must himself have known before finishing this dramatically unsatisfying work. Perhaps he needed the advance to pay the mortgage on his Italian villa? Authors have to eat, too.
Rating:
Summary: I love Vidal, but I have to somewhat agree...
Review: Gore Vidal is perhaps the most enlightened writer of 'inside' American politics, ever. His works "Burr", "1876", Lincoln", and "Empire" are sweeping in their scope and devastating in their laying-waste to 'average' American concepts of the myths which make up our "history" as a country. All written with great wit and insight...all 5-star are all of those mentioned. "Hollywood", the penultimate novel in the series, suffered only a little from, I feel, an inferior political plot-line. "The Golden Age" can not be said to suffer that way; in fact, I think Vidal's notions of true American history are completely 'on the mark' in this novel. Unfortunately, it is his writing style that seems to come down a notch here. Perhaps like a family too long followed, the ideas seem to be losing steam along with it...or maybe just the way they're presented. That is very sad, since the points in this last (?) one are so very important to the whole series. Lest anyone think that Vidal has lost the touch, a quick read of the first essay in the recently released "Cheny-Bush Junta..." pamphlet shows that he is still in fine form as a writer. I truly hope Vidal will take one more crack...at a post 1960 historical fiction perhaps. Sometimes brilliance skips a generation...but Gore Vidal is no less brilliant, as his essays continue to show.
Rating:
Summary: I love Vidal, but I have to somewhat agree...
Review: Gore Vidal is perhaps the most enlightened writer of 'inside' American politics, ever. His works "Burr", "1876", Lincoln", and "Empire" are sweeping in their scope and devastating in their laying-waste to 'average' American concepts of the myths which make up our "history" as a country. All written with great wit and insight...all 5-star are all of those mentioned. "Hollywood", the penultimate novel in the series, suffered only a little from, I feel, an inferior political plot-line. "The Golden Age" can not be said to suffer that way; in fact, I think Vidal's notions of true American history are completely 'on the mark' in this novel. Unfortunately, it is his writing style that seems to come down a notch here. Perhaps like a family too long followed, the ideas seem to be losing steam along with it...or maybe just the way they're presented. That is very sad, since the points in this last (?) one are so very important to the whole series. Lest anyone think that Vidal has lost the touch, a quick read of the first essay in the recently released "Cheny-Bush Junta..." pamphlet shows that he is still in fine form as a writer. I truly hope Vidal will take one more crack...at a post 1960 historical fiction perhaps. Sometimes brilliance skips a generation...but Gore Vidal is no less brilliant, as his essays continue to show.
Rating: 
Summary: Negative and cynical, except for Aaron Burr
Review: Gore Vidal knows his history extraordinarily well, but his negativity and cynicism dominate this disappointing and annoying book. His fictional characters interact closely with the major figures of the Golden Age, FDR, Harry Hopkins, Truman. Virtually all the real people are portrayed as fools and/or charlatans in the most disdainful manner. The main characters' main concerns are limited to decorating, dining, fashion and of top priority - witty repartee. Vidal finds room to include himself in a flattering light, but feels other events of the time, e.g., D-Day, The Holocaust, Japan's treatment of China, are not worthy of mention. Also missing is a plot. This was supposed to be a novel, after all. Following a parallel timeline to history is not a plot. Vidal's greatest enthusiasm is for his buddy Aaron Burr, who he actually reincarnates at the end of the book. (I actually joked to myself while reading the umpteenth invocation of the Burr memory that he would do this and was shocked and amused to find he actually had.) Gore - get that therapy you've been putting off. You've got some serious problems that ruin what might have been an enjoyable read.
Rating:
Summary: To Be Golden, An Age Must Have Its Gore
Review: Gore Vidal's "The Golden Age" is a magnificent book by our greatest living author and man of letters. As the capstone on his historical novelization of the rise and decline of the American Empire, it is a fitting end to a series which enlightens and entertains. For Vidal strips away the myth of America that neo-conservatism seeks at virtually all cost to perpetuate, be it the myth of a noble "Founding," the myth of a saintly and simple Abraham Lincoln, the myth of a noble empire bent on enlightening the world out of sheer altruism, the myth that we fought World War II because we were attacked without provocation, or the myth that our actions at the beginning of the Cold War were entirely in reaction to those of the Soviet Union. This is Vidal's great theme. Over the course of his work, the main line of character development lies, not so much in Vidal's people, as in the country and then the nation itself. Vidal grew up surrounded by the men who became the ghosts that haunt our history; which is why, I suppose, that the end of this book is so fitting and so beautiful a finale to what has become a monumental work.
Rating:
Summary: To Be Golden, An Age Must Have Its Gore
Review: Gore Vidal's "The Golden Age" is a magnificent book by our greatest living author and man of letters. As the capstone on his historical novelization of the rise and decline of the American Empire, it is a fitting end to a series which enlightens and entertains. For Vidal strips away the myth of America that neo-conservatism seeks at virtually all cost to perpetuate, be it the myth of a noble "Founding," the myth of a saintly and simple Abraham Lincoln, the myth of a noble empire bent on enlightening the world out of sheer altruism, the myth that we fought World War II because we were attacked without provocation, or the myth that our actions at the beginning of the Cold War were entirely in reaction to those of the Soviet Union. This is Vidal's great theme. Over the course of his work, the main line of character development lies, not so much in Vidal's people, as in the country and then the nation itself. Vidal grew up surrounded by the men who became the ghosts that haunt our history; which is why, I suppose, that the end of this book is so fitting and so beautiful a finale to what has become a monumental work.
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