4.0
The Second American Revolution and Other Essays 1976 - 1982
ByPublisher Description
These nineteen essays richly confirm Gore Vidal's reputation as "America's finest essayist" (The New Statesman), and are further evidence of the breadth and depth of his intelligence and wit. Included here are his highly praised essays on Theodore Roosevelt ("An American Sissy"), F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edmund Wilson ("This Critic and This Gin and These Shoes"), the need for a new constitutional convention—as well as his controversial study of relations between the homosexual and Jewish communities ("Pink Triangle and Yellow Star"). Vidal's other subjects range from Christopher Isherwood to L. Frank Baum ("The OZ BOoks"), from the question of "Who Makes the Movies?" to the misadventures—religious and financial—of Bert Lance.
Download the free Fable app
Stay organized
Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.
Build a better TBR
Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building tool
Rate and review
Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tags
Curate your feed
Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesStay organized
Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.Build a better TBR
Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building toolRate and review
Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tagsCurate your feed
Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities3 Reviews
4.0
Justin Clark
Created over 1 year agoShare
Report
“The Second American Revolution (1983) is one of Gore Vidal’s best collections of essays, covering 1976-1982. He covers a wide array of topics, from the lackluster career of F. Scott Fitzgerald and the pathbreaking honesty of Christopher Isherwood to the early life of Theodore Roosevelt and the need for a new American republic. I was especially taken with his essay on L. Frank Baum of the Wizard of Oz books, which enchanted his young mind. Vidal correctly points out that the supposed allegory of the Oz books, taken to be a defense of bimetallism, was a post-hoc creation. In reality, Baum himself wasn’t political and the novels are merely a reflection of his vivid imagination. I also really enjoyed the essay “Pink Triangle and Yellow Star,” which is a scathing critique of the conservative Jewish community and its explicit homophobia.
The eponymous essay is one of my favorite pieces of Vidal’s writing. In it, Vidal acts as a shadow American statesman, noting the flaws throughout the Constitution and how it could be improved. In particular, he notes that the Supreme Court was never supposed to review the acts of Congress via judicial review, largely an imposition codified by Chief Justice John Marshall. Rather, Congress actually has explicit powers to review decisions by the Supreme Court. This insight is prescient in our age of an extreme right-wing court that has thrown out decades of precedent in many recent cases, with Congress doing nothing to balance out the court’s usurpation of power. Vidal also calls for the House of Representatives to have more power and its majority to establish an executive cabinet. In essence, Vidal suggests a more parliamentary system of government, with the House of Representatives as the strongest branch of government, the Senate as review of the House’s decisions, and a President and Supreme Court reigned in by the Congress. Perhaps in our own time we will be able to implement something of a “fourth republic”, as Vidal called his package of suggestions.
Vidal is a terrific essayist, easily moving from literature to history to politics with the grace of a master, and the Second American Revolution is a clear testament to his power.”
About Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal (1925–2012) was born at the United States Military Academy at West Point. His first novel, Williwaw, written when he was 19 years old and serving in the army, appeared in the spring of 1946. He wrote 23 novels, five plays, many screenplays, short stories, well over 200 essays, and a memoir.
Other books by Gore Vidal
Start a Book Club
Start a public or private book club with this book on the Fable app today!FAQ
Do I have to buy the ebook to participate in a book club?
Why can’t I buy the ebook on the app?
How is Fable’s reader different from Kindle?
Do you sell physical books too?
Are book clubs free to join on Fable?
How do I start a book club with this book on Fable?
Similar Books
Save to a list
0
/30
0
/100
Private List