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Icons of America
By Gore Vidal - Inventing a Nation: Washington, Adams, Jefferson: 1st (first) Edition
Gore Vidal’s uniquely irreverent take on America’s founding fathers will enliven all future discussion of the enduring power of their nation-building ideas
Gore Vidal, one of the master stylists of American literature and one of the most acute observers of American life and history, turns his immense literary and historiographic talent to a portrait of the formidable trio of George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson. In Inventing a Nation, Vidal transports the reader into the minds, the living rooms (and bedrooms), the convention halls, and the salons of Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and others. We come to know these men, through Vidal’s splendid and percipient prose, in ways we have not up to now—their opinions of each other, their worries about money, their concerns about creating a viable democracy. Vidal brings them to life at the key moments of decision in the birthing of our nation. He also illuminates the force and weight of the documents they wrote, the speeches they delivered, and the institutions of government by which we still live. More than two centuries later, America is still largely governed by the ideas championed by this triumvirate.
Gore Vidal, one of the master stylists of American literature and one of the most acute observers of American life and history, turns his immense literary and historiographic talent to a portrait of the formidable trio of George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson. In Inventing a Nation, Vidal transports the reader into the minds, the living rooms (and bedrooms), the convention halls, and the salons of Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and others. We come to know these men, through Vidal’s splendid and percipient prose, in ways we have not up to now—their opinions of each other, their worries about money, their concerns about creating a viable democracy. Vidal brings them to life at the key moments of decision in the birthing of our nation. He also illuminates the force and weight of the documents they wrote, the speeches they delivered, and the institutions of government by which we still live. More than two centuries later, America is still largely governed by the ideas championed by this triumvirate.
208 pages, softback
First published October 11, 2003
About the author
Gore Vidal
288 books1,732 followersWorks of American writer Eugene Luther Gore Vidal, noted for his cynical humor and his numerous accounts of society in decline, include the play
The Best Man
(1960) and the novel
Myra Breckinridge
(1968) .
People know his essays, screenplays, and Broadway.
They also knew his patrician manner, transatlantic accent, and witty aphorisms. Vidal came from a distinguished political lineage; his grandfather was the senator Thomas Gore, and he later became a relation (through marriage) to Jacqueline Kennedy.
Vidal, a longtime political critic, ran twice for political office. He was a lifelong isolationist Democrat. The Nation, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, The New York Review of Books, and Esquire published his essays.
Essays and media appearances long criticized foreign policy. In addition, he from the 1980s onwards characterized the United States as a decaying empire. Additionally, he was known for his well publicized spats with such figures as Norman Mailer, William F. Buckley, Jr., and Truman Capote.
They fell into distinct social and historical camps. Alongside his social, his best known historical include Julian, Burr, and Lincoln. His third novel, The City and the Pillar (1948), outraged conservative critics as the first major feature of unambiguous homosexuality.
At the time of his death he was the last of a generation of American writers who had served during World War II, including J.D. Salinger, Kurt Vonnegut, Norman Mailer and Joseph Heller. Perhaps best remembered for his caustic wit, he referred to himself as a "gentleman bitch" and has been described as the 20th century's answer to Oscar Wilde
Also used the pseudonym Edgar Box.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Gore Vidal é um dos nomes centrais na história da literatura americana pós-Segunda Guerra Mundial.
Nascido em 1925, em Nova Iorque, estudou na Academia de Phillips Exeter (Estado de New Hampshire). O seu primeiro romance, Williwaw (1946), era uma história da guerra claramente influenciada pelo estilo de Hemingway. Embora grande parte da sua obra tenha a ver com o século XX americano, Vidal debruçou-se várias vezes sobre épocas recuadas, como, por exemplo, em A Search for the King (1950), Juliano (1964) e Creation (1981).
Entre os seus temas de eleição está o mundo do cinema e, mais concretamente, os bastidores de Hollywood, que ele desmonta de forma satírica e implacável em títulos como Myra Breckinridge (1968), Myron (1975) e Duluth (1983).
Senhor de um estilo exuberante, multifacetado e sempre surpreendente, publicou, em 1995, a autobiografia Palimpsest: A Memoir. As obras 'O Instituto Smithsonian' e 'A Idade do Ouro' encontram-se traduzidas em português.
Neto do senador Thomas Gore, enteado do padrasto de Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, primo distante de Al Gore, Gore Vidal sempre se revelou um espelho crítico das grandezas e misérias dos EUA.
Faleceu a 31 de julho de 2012, aos 86 anos, na sua casa em Hollywood, vítima de pneumonia.
People know his essays, screenplays, and Broadway.
They also knew his patrician manner, transatlantic accent, and witty aphorisms. Vidal came from a distinguished political lineage; his grandfather was the senator Thomas Gore, and he later became a relation (through marriage) to Jacqueline Kennedy.
Vidal, a longtime political critic, ran twice for political office. He was a lifelong isolationist Democrat. The Nation, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, The New York Review of Books, and Esquire published his essays.
Essays and media appearances long criticized foreign policy. In addition, he from the 1980s onwards characterized the United States as a decaying empire. Additionally, he was known for his well publicized spats with such figures as Norman Mailer, William F. Buckley, Jr., and Truman Capote.
They fell into distinct social and historical camps. Alongside his social, his best known historical include Julian, Burr, and Lincoln. His third novel, The City and the Pillar (1948), outraged conservative critics as the first major feature of unambiguous homosexuality.
At the time of his death he was the last of a generation of American writers who had served during World War II, including J.D. Salinger, Kurt Vonnegut, Norman Mailer and Joseph Heller. Perhaps best remembered for his caustic wit, he referred to himself as a "gentleman bitch" and has been described as the 20th century's answer to Oscar Wilde
Also used the pseudonym Edgar Box.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Gore Vidal é um dos nomes centrais na história da literatura americana pós-Segunda Guerra Mundial.
Nascido em 1925, em Nova Iorque, estudou na Academia de Phillips Exeter (Estado de New Hampshire). O seu primeiro romance, Williwaw (1946), era uma história da guerra claramente influenciada pelo estilo de Hemingway. Embora grande parte da sua obra tenha a ver com o século XX americano, Vidal debruçou-se várias vezes sobre épocas recuadas, como, por exemplo, em A Search for the King (1950), Juliano (1964) e Creation (1981).
Entre os seus temas de eleição está o mundo do cinema e, mais concretamente, os bastidores de Hollywood, que ele desmonta de forma satírica e implacável em títulos como Myra Breckinridge (1968), Myron (1975) e Duluth (1983).
Senhor de um estilo exuberante, multifacetado e sempre surpreendente, publicou, em 1995, a autobiografia Palimpsest: A Memoir. As obras 'O Instituto Smithsonian' e 'A Idade do Ouro' encontram-se traduzidas em português.
Neto do senador Thomas Gore, enteado do padrasto de Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, primo distante de Al Gore, Gore Vidal sempre se revelou um espelho crítico das grandezas e misérias dos EUA.
Faleceu a 31 de julho de 2012, aos 86 anos, na sua casa em Hollywood, vítima de pneumonia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 189 reviews
February 25, 2018
This breezy, chatty narrative of events of the founding era is hard to categorize. Gore Vidal jumps from one topic to another and backwards and forwards in time seemingly as the mood strikes him. Although there is an index of topics, as one would expect in a history book, there is no attempt to cite sources or provide evidence in a systematic way. Completely unsubstantiated history rumors are conveyed in the same tone as more mundane historical details (Hamilton was Washington's son! And a British agent! Burr was a French agent!). All of this is accompanied by Vidal’s ironic and tangential observations, like a description of the Constitution’s “gnarled prose no doubt certain to be soon clarified by our twenty-first-century Court, in the pellucid prose, one prays, of that model associate justice Clarence Thomas.” Or remarking that, for Jefferson and Adams, “happily, the Disney-like Mount Rushmore was as yet a nightmare undreamed of by either patriot.” It’s like listening to a witty friend tell stories over dinner, or maybe like watching an episode of Drunk History.
September 1, 2012
As we (Gore and I) proceed, it becomes clear that he is writing in the shadow of the 9-11-01 attack and our response (including the passage of The Patriot Act). He seeks links and parallels and wants the reader to appreciate them and their antecedents.
Maybe 5 stars is too much for this book, which others may see as a screed. For me it was the right time and place to consider, as Vidal does, where we are and how to avoid catastrophe. I particularly enjoyed the primary research that he brings to this study of what took place in the beginnings of our republic...albeit laced with Vidal's own point of view and sarcastic asides.
Also, there were plenty of historical tidbits scattered through the book that made for musing on what else still has not be uncovered. For instance, I wasn't aware how many of our early founders, while this nation was just starting out under Washington and Adams, were in the pay/service of other countries such as England, France and Spain. I'll stop before I give too much away.
May 6, 2017
In 1968 I watched Gore Vidal and William Buckley spar as commentators to the political conventions of that year. Never before or since has there ever been such a display of intelligence and insight at any political gathering in our country's history. When I ran across this book recently I had to pick it up in hopes of reading Vidal's insights. The history he details is not new. In fact it is more than well known. However, his take on these events is more than worth the read for those of us truly interested in this period of our history. Sadly, that should be all of us but that is very far from the case. Those others will find this book, well boring I guess. I was haunted by an anecdote Vidal recounts at the end involving himself and JFK. It was wondered how such great minds as those of our early founders were possible and why we lack them today. JFK remarked that the founders had more time on their hands and used it to think. People today don't spend enough time thinking, some don't think at all. If you're interested in reading the thoughts of a thinking man then read this book.
April 4, 2024
Most of the audience for Inventing A Nation: Washington, Adams, Jefferson is already familiar with much of its material. If you have enough interested to pick up a book about the early republic, as covered here in the administrations of our first three presidents, odds are you already know your way around the subject. All the big stories from the beginning are here — the Constitutional Convention, the Compromise of 1790 and the Assumption Bill, the Alien and Sedition Acts, the Louisiana Purchase — you know all this stuff already, right? So why bother with this book?
There are a few reason why you should read Mr. Vidal’s book, the first of which is that it’s totally free of American Exceptionalism, that virus that infected much of what passed for American History. Vidal writes about these guys as real men — active, self-interested politicians, not unlike the variety that we now know, and he interprets the material through that lens. He acknowledges that they (at least his principal characters) were not only competent, but more importantly, self-aware that they were acting out their careers at the beginning of something BIG, that they were living their lives on the lit stage of history. As such, they actively curated their own lives, actions, and papers with an eye toward posterity. Vidal takes many opportunities to point this out, as in this passage about Washington:
Reluctantly (apparent reluctance was his style whenever something desirable came his way) Washington had accepted the presidency of a joint Virginia Maryland company to develop the navigability of the Potomac River.
Vidal never lets you forget that he is writing about men, not demigods or marble statues.
Gore Vidal’s lived experience is the second thing that sets this volume apart. He was born into a politically active family — he was grandson to Senator Thomas Gore, and was tangentially related to Jacki Kennedy. He once ran for Congress himself. He knew, first hand, what motivated political choices, the personal ambition at its heart, and had a behind the scenes view of the patriotic gloss that then became politics public face. He knew all this too well to ever believe Mythic History as commonly taught. So when he wrote of the politics of our past, he didn’t deceive himself that it was substantially different from the present. (This isn’t so much a separate reason as it is an explanation why Vidal was not susceptible to American Exceptionalism.)
But for me, Gore Vidal’s voice is the driving reason for reading Inventing a Nation. It is sophisticated and earthy. He assumes his readers intelligence, never writing down to them. He writes with wit, and his arch style sets his work apart, as here:
Paradoxically, a later generation of pagan-minded fundamentalist chose to place an image of the optimist Jefferson on a Dakota cliff alongside the Father of the Gods, the Renewer of the Union, and the Proto-Imperialist, quite ignoring the truly American Adams who represented the tortured conscience of a nation sprung from bewitched soil, prone to devil belief and lately to bloody wars against serpentine evil everywhere forever wriggling its way through sacred gardens.
Finally, Vidal’s intellect and insight sometimes made him appear almost prescient. When writing about the Federalist obsession with war with France, he sums it up by explaining:
In the United States, dying political parties often make colorful departures.
In our own age of one of our major parties becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of MAGA Trump, this statement appears particularly apt.
There are a few reason why you should read Mr. Vidal’s book, the first of which is that it’s totally free of American Exceptionalism, that virus that infected much of what passed for American History. Vidal writes about these guys as real men — active, self-interested politicians, not unlike the variety that we now know, and he interprets the material through that lens. He acknowledges that they (at least his principal characters) were not only competent, but more importantly, self-aware that they were acting out their careers at the beginning of something BIG, that they were living their lives on the lit stage of history. As such, they actively curated their own lives, actions, and papers with an eye toward posterity. Vidal takes many opportunities to point this out, as in this passage about Washington:
Reluctantly (apparent reluctance was his style whenever something desirable came his way) Washington had accepted the presidency of a joint Virginia Maryland company to develop the navigability of the Potomac River.
Vidal never lets you forget that he is writing about men, not demigods or marble statues.
Gore Vidal’s lived experience is the second thing that sets this volume apart. He was born into a politically active family — he was grandson to Senator Thomas Gore, and was tangentially related to Jacki Kennedy. He once ran for Congress himself. He knew, first hand, what motivated political choices, the personal ambition at its heart, and had a behind the scenes view of the patriotic gloss that then became politics public face. He knew all this too well to ever believe Mythic History as commonly taught. So when he wrote of the politics of our past, he didn’t deceive himself that it was substantially different from the present. (This isn’t so much a separate reason as it is an explanation why Vidal was not susceptible to American Exceptionalism.)
But for me, Gore Vidal’s voice is the driving reason for reading Inventing a Nation. It is sophisticated and earthy. He assumes his readers intelligence, never writing down to them. He writes with wit, and his arch style sets his work apart, as here:
Paradoxically, a later generation of pagan-minded fundamentalist chose to place an image of the optimist Jefferson on a Dakota cliff alongside the Father of the Gods, the Renewer of the Union, and the Proto-Imperialist, quite ignoring the truly American Adams who represented the tortured conscience of a nation sprung from bewitched soil, prone to devil belief and lately to bloody wars against serpentine evil everywhere forever wriggling its way through sacred gardens.
Finally, Vidal’s intellect and insight sometimes made him appear almost prescient. When writing about the Federalist obsession with war with France, he sums it up by explaining:
In the United States, dying political parties often make colorful departures.
In our own age of one of our major parties becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of MAGA Trump, this statement appears particularly apt.
April 15, 2009
If you enjoy your history with a partisan flavor and a good dose of skepticism, you will immensely enjoy Inventing A Nation, Gore Vidal's romp through early American history. Gore begins with 1786 as Washington prepares to lead the constitutional convention.
It's refreshing to go beyond the glowing myths we are fed in high school and see the great men with all their foibles, flaws that somehow make them even a little greater in my estimation. There was a lot of groping going on to find just the right mix. Democracy did not have much in the way of precedence. After the Athenian defeat by Alexander, there was really no democratic example to follow.
Ours is certainly not a democracy in the Athenian sense as Gore, in his inimitable manner makes clear: "Much of the significance of December 2000 was that the Electoral College, created to ensure that majority rule be thwarted if unacceptable to what Hamilton thought of as the proper governing elite, threw a bright spotlight on just how undemocratic our republic has become, causing one of the Supreme Court Justices (by many thought to be a visiting alien) to respond to the Gore lawyers who maintained that Florida's skewed voting machines and confused rulings by various interested courts had deprived thousands of Floridians of their vote for president. The American Constitution, said the Justice, mandibles clattering joyously, does not provide any American citizen the right to vote for president. This is absolutely true. One votes for a near-anonymous member of the Electoral College, which explains why so few Americans now bother to 'vote' for president. But then a majority don't know what the Electoral College is."
That's classic.
It's refreshing to go beyond the glowing myths we are fed in high school and see the great men with all their foibles, flaws that somehow make them even a little greater in my estimation. There was a lot of groping going on to find just the right mix. Democracy did not have much in the way of precedence. After the Athenian defeat by Alexander, there was really no democratic example to follow.
Ours is certainly not a democracy in the Athenian sense as Gore, in his inimitable manner makes clear: "Much of the significance of December 2000 was that the Electoral College, created to ensure that majority rule be thwarted if unacceptable to what Hamilton thought of as the proper governing elite, threw a bright spotlight on just how undemocratic our republic has become, causing one of the Supreme Court Justices (by many thought to be a visiting alien) to respond to the Gore lawyers who maintained that Florida's skewed voting machines and confused rulings by various interested courts had deprived thousands of Floridians of their vote for president. The American Constitution, said the Justice, mandibles clattering joyously, does not provide any American citizen the right to vote for president. This is absolutely true. One votes for a near-anonymous member of the Electoral College, which explains why so few Americans now bother to 'vote' for president. But then a majority don't know what the Electoral College is."
That's classic.
September 24, 2021
La storiografia come raramente si trova. Ok abbiamo a che fare con un fuoriclasse della letteratura e del Bel Mondo che si cimenta nella narrazione delle dinamiche personali e politiche dei primi tre presidenti degli Stati Uniti, ma lo stupore per questo piccolo libro e' grande. Scritto benissimo, ironico, documentatissimo e appassionato. La figura dei grandi Padri Fondatori alle prese anche con le quotidiane miserie, non esce per nulla sminuita ma, se possibile, ancor piu' luminosa, specie al drammatico confronto con la mediocrfita' vera odierna.
July 2, 2019
Here Gore Vidal traces, in short compass, the careers of several of the 'Founders' of the American republic. Altho George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson are alone listed in the subtitle, Alexander Hamilton is as much discussed. He, however, in Vidal's view, is a lesser figure. For one, he never became president. For another, Vidal has little good to say about him. Historically, the focus of the book is on the Washington and Adams administrations, leading up to the election of Jefferson. As ever, it's very well written, a bit quirky, and often amusing, Vidal throwing in a number of side remarks about the reviled Bush administration, the fulfilment of many of the founders' most dire prognostications.
April 10, 2008
I really enjoyed Vidal's "Burr", a biography of Aaron Burr, so I was looking forward to reading this volume about the establishment of our government.
I was rather disappointed. While Vidal is a superb writer, his editorializing and clear political opinions ruined the book for me. While I agree with many of his leanings, the insertion of such seemed rather unprofessional. Also, some of his word choices, in describing some of these complicated - and very mortal men -- was a bit dismissive and harsh. Still, there are some fun gems in the book and I learned quite a bit.
I was rather disappointed. While Vidal is a superb writer, his editorializing and clear political opinions ruined the book for me. While I agree with many of his leanings, the insertion of such seemed rather unprofessional. Also, some of his word choices, in describing some of these complicated - and very mortal men -- was a bit dismissive and harsh. Still, there are some fun gems in the book and I learned quite a bit.
January 22, 2010
I don’t really know very much about American History – I know some of the cliches, of course, it would be very hard not to have picked those up over the years, but the details are all a bit vague. So, when I saw this reviewed by Eric http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/... it looked amusing and so I thought I would give it a try. The fact that it was written by Gore Vidal was certainly an appealing consideration.
This was anything but a dry history. It parted the curtains a little so as to look into the private lives of people like Washington and Adams and didn’t do the usual stuff about Jefferson being a hypocrite around his keeping slaves and so on, at least, not only that. The letters between Adams and his wife sound like a joy to read if I can ever track them down (looks like they will be available at the library when I start uni next month). The description of Washington’s death was quite moving – the fact that it was written without high blown phrases and with a plain style merely reporting the facts made it all the more moving.
There were also many little asides that I found very amusing (and are the chief joy in reading any history) – my favourite was the person who advised the young men working for him to masturbate before coming to work as it would mean that, for the morning at least, they would be able to give their full attention to their work. Surprisingly enough, this advice was not given by an American, but rather a Frenchman.
I really didn’t know enough about the relationship between the Federalists and the Republicans and this is assumed in the book. However, there was enough detail and information here to whet my appetite to read more. Vidal also recommends Henry Adams’ History of America, which sounds fascinating and will also need to go onto my increasingly pointless ‘to read’ list (ah, for a dozen lifetimes or so).
Vidal makes the very interesting point that there is a difference between a democracy and a republic and that America was set up to be a republic, with the word ‘democracy’ hardly ever used by the founding fathers except when talking about what they didn’t want. Not only did the founders of the US not consider democracy all that appealing an idea, they actively sought to ensure that only the right sort of people would ever have power in the US. I need to quote the same bit that Eric does:
Ours is certainly not a democracy in the Athenian sense as Gore, in his inimitable manner makes clear: "Much of the significance of December 2000 was that the Electoral College, created to ensure that majority rule be thwarted if unacceptable to what Hamilton thought of as the proper governing elite, threw a bright spotlight on just how undemocratic our republic has become, causing one of the Supreme Court Justices (by many thought to be a visiting alien) to respond to the Gore lawyers who maintained that Florida's skewed voting machines and confused rulings by various interested courts had deprived thousands of Floridians of their vote for president. The American Constitution, said the Justice, mandibles clattering joyously, does not provide any American citizen the right to vote for president. This is absolutely true. One votes for a near-anonymous member of the Electoral College, which explains why so few Americans now bother to 'vote' for president. But then a majority don't know what the Electoral College is."
Any paragraph that contains the phrase, ‘mandibles clattering joyously’ can’t really be quoted too frequently.
I think that perhaps the measure of the worth of a book of history is not whether it sates our curiosity concerning a period, but if it inspires us to read more and gives us enough of an overview to know where to go next. But if it also show the relevance of the issues at hand during a period of history to our own day, then it is something infinitely more. Needless to say, this book’s passing comments on the Presidency of George W Bush are thought provoking and often very witty.
Enjoy.
This was anything but a dry history. It parted the curtains a little so as to look into the private lives of people like Washington and Adams and didn’t do the usual stuff about Jefferson being a hypocrite around his keeping slaves and so on, at least, not only that. The letters between Adams and his wife sound like a joy to read if I can ever track them down (looks like they will be available at the library when I start uni next month). The description of Washington’s death was quite moving – the fact that it was written without high blown phrases and with a plain style merely reporting the facts made it all the more moving.
There were also many little asides that I found very amusing (and are the chief joy in reading any history) – my favourite was the person who advised the young men working for him to masturbate before coming to work as it would mean that, for the morning at least, they would be able to give their full attention to their work. Surprisingly enough, this advice was not given by an American, but rather a Frenchman.
I really didn’t know enough about the relationship between the Federalists and the Republicans and this is assumed in the book. However, there was enough detail and information here to whet my appetite to read more. Vidal also recommends Henry Adams’ History of America, which sounds fascinating and will also need to go onto my increasingly pointless ‘to read’ list (ah, for a dozen lifetimes or so).
Vidal makes the very interesting point that there is a difference between a democracy and a republic and that America was set up to be a republic, with the word ‘democracy’ hardly ever used by the founding fathers except when talking about what they didn’t want. Not only did the founders of the US not consider democracy all that appealing an idea, they actively sought to ensure that only the right sort of people would ever have power in the US. I need to quote the same bit that Eric does:
Ours is certainly not a democracy in the Athenian sense as Gore, in his inimitable manner makes clear: "Much of the significance of December 2000 was that the Electoral College, created to ensure that majority rule be thwarted if unacceptable to what Hamilton thought of as the proper governing elite, threw a bright spotlight on just how undemocratic our republic has become, causing one of the Supreme Court Justices (by many thought to be a visiting alien) to respond to the Gore lawyers who maintained that Florida's skewed voting machines and confused rulings by various interested courts had deprived thousands of Floridians of their vote for president. The American Constitution, said the Justice, mandibles clattering joyously, does not provide any American citizen the right to vote for president. This is absolutely true. One votes for a near-anonymous member of the Electoral College, which explains why so few Americans now bother to 'vote' for president. But then a majority don't know what the Electoral College is."
Any paragraph that contains the phrase, ‘mandibles clattering joyously’ can’t really be quoted too frequently.
I think that perhaps the measure of the worth of a book of history is not whether it sates our curiosity concerning a period, but if it inspires us to read more and gives us enough of an overview to know where to go next. But if it also show the relevance of the issues at hand during a period of history to our own day, then it is something infinitely more. Needless to say, this book’s passing comments on the Presidency of George W Bush are thought provoking and often very witty.
Enjoy.
March 4, 2009
This is my first Gore Vidal book and it might prove to be my last. Vidal is undoubtedly erudite and his personal attachment to the historical figures he writes about is palpable. In fact, the third star on the rating is due to a few tidbits of information found in the text that are actually interesting and relevant to today's events. However, it is very hard to determine what Vidal's point really is. The narrative is rambling at best, a hodge-podge of tangential rants with no clear direction and no purpose other than, apparently, to register Vidal's amusement, disdain, sneering elitist contempt and/or sheer awe at his own erudition and mental acuity. Fancy French and Latin terms are introduced at certain intervals, but fail to convey any additional meaning (even for those of us who can understand them) and instead only serve to project Vidal's nose further into the sky.
The most hilarious part of the story comes towards the end, where Vidal terminates his narrative at the point of Jefferson's election and declares that since he's out of alotted space, and he's already tangentially rambled about the Louisiana purchase, he's just going to stop here. Except he doesn't. He continues rambling for another twenty pages, including a precious story about him playing backgammon with JFK (and winning!), which is followed by an unsubtle reminder to us that Vidal is, indeed, related to the Kennedys, which is followed by yet another interesting quotation from a great historical figure (no, not Vidal) that has no point.
In the end I came away with only one major impression: it is a damn shame that someone of Vidal's knowledge and sophistication chooses to waste "space allotted" on this sort of self-aggrandizing crap. If he so desired, he could write great history. But... no such luck.
The most hilarious part of the story comes towards the end, where Vidal terminates his narrative at the point of Jefferson's election and declares that since he's out of alotted space, and he's already tangentially rambled about the Louisiana purchase, he's just going to stop here. Except he doesn't. He continues rambling for another twenty pages, including a precious story about him playing backgammon with JFK (and winning!), which is followed by an unsubtle reminder to us that Vidal is, indeed, related to the Kennedys, which is followed by yet another interesting quotation from a great historical figure (no, not Vidal) that has no point.
In the end I came away with only one major impression: it is a damn shame that someone of Vidal's knowledge and sophistication chooses to waste "space allotted" on this sort of self-aggrandizing crap. If he so desired, he could write great history. But... no such luck.
July 1, 2008
My feelings about Gore Vidal's "Inventing a Nation: Washington, Adams, Jefferson" are decidedly mixed. While I am glad we still have an historian and cultural critic like Gore Vidal around -- and, having him seen him speak recently and seen what poor health he looks to be in, we may not have him around much longer -- it'd be hard to characterize much of the founding-fathers history in this book as anything other than well-trodden ground. (Vidal is not necessarily to blame for his: He has been writing about the founders for decades, while the bestsellers by Joseph J. Ellis and David McCullough are relative latecomers to the party.)
The one arguably new twist is Vidal connecting the founders' intentions to the failures of the Bush administration to adhere to their principles. Unfortunately, Vidal makes passing mention of these failures without discussing them in detail. That's fine for present-day readers well-acquainted with the past seven years' political doings, but it doesn't give his book a lot of staying power for future history students. It also makes the book a bit too polemical at times, even for a reader who largely agrees with Vidal's critiques of the current administration. Still, "Inventing a Nation" is colorful, well-written and intelligent. (This is Vidal, after all.) I'm just not sure it was a necessary addition to the canon.
The one arguably new twist is Vidal connecting the founders' intentions to the failures of the Bush administration to adhere to their principles. Unfortunately, Vidal makes passing mention of these failures without discussing them in detail. That's fine for present-day readers well-acquainted with the past seven years' political doings, but it doesn't give his book a lot of staying power for future history students. It also makes the book a bit too polemical at times, even for a reader who largely agrees with Vidal's critiques of the current administration. Still, "Inventing a Nation" is colorful, well-written and intelligent. (This is Vidal, after all.) I'm just not sure it was a necessary addition to the canon.
August 25, 2012
The cool thing about this book is that it takes a very humorous and not so politically correct look at the founding fathers. Gore Vidal is the perfect writer to make such irreverent and comical observations. No punches are pulled when describing the more embarrassing aspects of the lives of the founding fathers. He describes what it must have been like for the Washington couple to be having dinner with the Adams couple just after beginning the first presidential term. A discussion with John Kennedy is described where Kennedy was astonished at how the current government leaders were so second-rate. "Then you read all those debates over the Constitution ... nothing like that now. Nothing." Kennedy wonders if perhaps there was something special in the water back then. For how else could one explain, he asks, "how a sort of backwoods country like this, with only three million people, could have produced the three great geniuses of the eighteenth century -- Franklin, Jefferson, and Hamilton?" Vidal's answer is that people thought and read more back then without all of the TV and other distractions. He often describes Thomas Jefferson with his water pail making observations about current historical events. It's kind of funny to picture founding fathers like John Adams and Alexander Hamilton nodding their heads about things that happened in later American history. He goes so far as to say that Thomas Jefferson is negotiating a return, let's hope he brings his water pail and not a guillotine.
July 7, 2009
Vidal has a sharp pen and an eloquent tongue, but I found many of his comments to be scarcely more than snide remarks. Rather than an academic approach, with at least an effort or pretense toward a neutral position or offering of opinion only when couched with presentation of evidence, Vidal seems to freely inject his own personal politics into the text. His telling is not comprehensive or systematic, but more like selective outtakes from history that he uses as a stump for pontificating. This is not to say that there are not useful and interesting stories or points in his narrative, or that I disagree with all his opinions. The one compelling point he makes at the end of the book is from a conversation he had with JFK where the president asks how it is that the genius of the founding fathers came from such a small population base (3 million). One answer offered is that men of that era did not have the distractions of today’s pop culture; that those men spent much time in thought and study of the body of knowledge and philosophy emerging from the age of enlightenment.
January 28, 2013
This is my first Gore Vidal book and frankly I'm not impressed. This is more of an opinion piece on history, rather than an actual history book. Of course, maybe that's how all his books are. He spews a few random (and by random I mean he doesn't present things in chronological order), then jumps 200+ years into the future and vilifies Republicans and Conservatives. Then he glorifies Democrats and especially JFK, whom he apparently knew. Then he jumps back in time and tries to expose Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Hamilton (to whom he gives equal time but doesn't include him in the title for some reason) and magnify their every flaw. Vidal sounds like an angry, old man with a huge chip on his shoulder, and he's daring anyone who knock it off, especially if they have the audacity to believe the framers of the constitution believed in God. And he's vain enough to believe that because he said it, it must be accurate. The true title of the book should have been "Inventing History: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton and Vidal."
January 26, 2009
I started reading this back in August and got through 3/4 of the book really easily. It was interesting and I loved all the snarky comments that were presented so dryly in the text. My only problem was that I come at this subject knowing almost nothing about American history, not being from the US. I feel that there were some things Vidal assumed the reader should know--not wrongly, since the majority of his audience would be aware of these things, but it made for some difficult reading on my end. This was ultimately what caused me to put the book aside for several months, and my lackluster drive to finish it finally.
September 30, 2011
Vidal is smart, insightful, witty, snobbish, conceited and in love with his own voice, worse usually right. In my patheon of blowhards he ranks right up there with Chomsky and Mailer and like them he shares the arrogance that comes with ironic self-awareness that must be a part of what makes all three of them so engaging and infuriating at the same time. If you wish to be informed about the real human story of the founding and the flawed but brilliant people who accomplished it you could do no better than this book.
April 26, 2021
This is a surprisingly fast read for a writer of Mr. Vidal's depth, wit, and vocabulary. More than a history lesson, the book details the machinations behind a number of early national controversies. The conflicts between Washington, Adams, and Jefferson take a back seat to Hamilton's endless scheming.
I was struck at how timely it reads, being published in 2003, and also how Americans still wrestle with many of the same issues that plagued the Founders.
I was struck at how timely it reads, being published in 2003, and also how Americans still wrestle with many of the same issues that plagued the Founders.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 2, 2020
This is a brief book, or a long essay, being a snide takedown of our country’s beginnings and some of its founders from the ever bitchy pen of the ever-smug Gore Vidal. Boy, he sure knows a lot of stuff. And while he’s not really wrong about anything, that doesn’t make him less of an asshole. If you have any acquaintance with the topic, the book has no surprises; it’s just Vidal’s trademark snark applied to early U.S. history.
Should you read it? My first thought was, why not, the food may not be fabulous, but the portion is small. But then I realized that this book assumes too much reader knowledge and might just confuse someone who doesn’t know much about the period or the actors. But for someone who does, there really is nothing new in the way of facts, it’s just a skewering of some popular historical figures and what they did.
Compare this to something like Ellis’s “Founding Brothers.” Both are short books that cover, with minor differences, the same period, people, and events. Ellis wrote to share his interpretation and insights after decades of study. It is challenging, illuminating, and interesting. Vidal seems to have written to maybe shock the reader a bit. I came away from both books thinking, for example, that Jefferson was a two-faced asshole. But in one book that was the author’s goal, while in the other it was just collateral damage. I’m not sorry I read it, but having done so I can’t say I’m glad I did.
Should you read it? My first thought was, why not, the food may not be fabulous, but the portion is small. But then I realized that this book assumes too much reader knowledge and might just confuse someone who doesn’t know much about the period or the actors. But for someone who does, there really is nothing new in the way of facts, it’s just a skewering of some popular historical figures and what they did.
Compare this to something like Ellis’s “Founding Brothers.” Both are short books that cover, with minor differences, the same period, people, and events. Ellis wrote to share his interpretation and insights after decades of study. It is challenging, illuminating, and interesting. Vidal seems to have written to maybe shock the reader a bit. I came away from both books thinking, for example, that Jefferson was a two-faced asshole. But in one book that was the author’s goal, while in the other it was just collateral damage. I’m not sorry I read it, but having done so I can’t say I’m glad I did.
March 23, 2018
Vidal's writing is always eccentric, always biting, and always interesting. He tries a bit too hard to criticize the presidency of George W Bush through the early constitutional era. Often Vidal is right, but the criticisms seem hokey and contrived fifteen years after initial publication. Still, Vidal represents much of what was good about the 2oth Century liberal tradition in the United States. His somewhat shameless name-dropping of John Kennedy at the end is a bit off-putting, but his anecdotes and occasional insights make this an interesting read.
March 6, 2018
I read this one on the suggestion of the producer of the His Excellency George Washington. This was really enjoyable - definitely gave a more robust view of the personalities of our Founding Fathers. Some LOL moments -- did you know John Adams (2nd President) was aka as Your Rotundity ? DID YOU?
One of the striking things about these books is that when discussing Congress it brings to mind modern-day Congress.
One of the striking things about these books is that when discussing Congress it brings to mind modern-day Congress.
August 15, 2021
Always fun to learn about US history with Mr. Vidal.
December 28, 2023
A somewhat cynical Vidal shows up here, disrupting our vision of the founding fathers.
Still, I enjoy his style…
Still, I enjoy his style…
February 26, 2017
This was unfocused at best and teleological at worst. Vidal's digressions into topics like modern day British politics, Columbus's exploration of North America, and the Second Law of Thermodynamics (?????) only detract from the, frankly, insanely broad topic he tries to cover in a measly 200 pages. I enjoyed a few anecdotes that were riddled throughout, but they were stories better contextualized in the works of authors like Chernow and Ellis, who did so without having to throw in unnecessary information just to prove how smart they are.
May 4, 2017
The events that Gore Vidal deems critical to “inventing” the nation are presented in Vidal’s informed and critical style. As with all of his books Vidal draws upon his wide ranging knowledge of history and literature as he points out human foibles. This book is informed by the Bush election in 2000 and his response to 9/11- the Patriot Act.
Vidal is always an antidote to those who somehow believe in a better golden age where the patriots were a selfless team working on behalf of the new nation. He reminds us that the Continental Congress withheld whatever funds it had while soldiers starved at Valley Forge. He points out the self dealing, the deal making, the back stabbing, censoring (Ben Franklin’s views on constitutional issues) and even the leaking of information to foreign powers (both Burr and Hamiliton) that went into the nation’s invention.
Vidal gives his view of the pivotal issues: The making of the Constitution, John Jay’s Peace Treaty and the impact of the events in France and England; Hamilton and the assumption of state debts; the Alien and Sedition Acts; Marbury v. Madison and others. He gives the clearest writing of the Genet affair I’ve seen, probably because personalities, where few historians will tread, are a forte of Vidal.
He brings the consequences of the invention period up to the present. He shows how the Founder’s fear of the common man played out in the Electoral College in 2000 (what would he write if he lived 5 years longer!).
All Vidal books are informative and entertaining. This one is no exception. While short, it tends to ramble such that the parts do not always transition well. It is no longer possible, but it would be good to have Vidal re-work this into a full length and more complete work. While this misses the mark, it's vintage Vidal (no pun intended) and Vidal is always a good read.
Vidal is always an antidote to those who somehow believe in a better golden age where the patriots were a selfless team working on behalf of the new nation. He reminds us that the Continental Congress withheld whatever funds it had while soldiers starved at Valley Forge. He points out the self dealing, the deal making, the back stabbing, censoring (Ben Franklin’s views on constitutional issues) and even the leaking of information to foreign powers (both Burr and Hamiliton) that went into the nation’s invention.
Vidal gives his view of the pivotal issues: The making of the Constitution, John Jay’s Peace Treaty and the impact of the events in France and England; Hamilton and the assumption of state debts; the Alien and Sedition Acts; Marbury v. Madison and others. He gives the clearest writing of the Genet affair I’ve seen, probably because personalities, where few historians will tread, are a forte of Vidal.
He brings the consequences of the invention period up to the present. He shows how the Founder’s fear of the common man played out in the Electoral College in 2000 (what would he write if he lived 5 years longer!).
All Vidal books are informative and entertaining. This one is no exception. While short, it tends to ramble such that the parts do not always transition well. It is no longer possible, but it would be good to have Vidal re-work this into a full length and more complete work. While this misses the mark, it's vintage Vidal (no pun intended) and Vidal is always a good read.
June 6, 2019
Wow-I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. It was my first time ever reading Gore Vidal. He is definitely an acquired taste. I do not share his political convictions, but I can appreciate that he is an intelligent and principled critic of Empire, albeit from the Left. (He had no illusions that Obama would sharply curtail our overseas involvements, for example)
Vidal occupies the unusual position of being a left leaning intellectual who does not hate the Founding Fathers. He approaches the Jefferson slave issue with subtlety and nuance that the subject demands. His reverence for them is everywhere apparent in Inventing a Nation. Vidal loves the founding fathers for who they were: brilliant, remarkably petty and quarrel prone, ruthlessly ambitious, and suspicious of the motives of each other. It is important to not deify them, as too many today do. Too often we look to the Fathers for simple answers. But there are very few.
Vidal is a cultured writer, and while the mechanics of his prose strike me as occasionally clumsy, particularly his use of long run-on sentences it is clear that he knows very much about much. He is also naturally funny. One has to have patience for all his benign partisan interludes. The book closes on an anecdote. Vidal is discussing the Founding Fathers with JFK. The young President observed that the founders were a class of Americans unrivaled in statesmanship, erudition, and brilliance. Surveying the political scene of the last thirty years, it is impossible to even imagine a politician possessing half of their talents.
Vidal occupies the unusual position of being a left leaning intellectual who does not hate the Founding Fathers. He approaches the Jefferson slave issue with subtlety and nuance that the subject demands. His reverence for them is everywhere apparent in Inventing a Nation. Vidal loves the founding fathers for who they were: brilliant, remarkably petty and quarrel prone, ruthlessly ambitious, and suspicious of the motives of each other. It is important to not deify them, as too many today do. Too often we look to the Fathers for simple answers. But there are very few.
Vidal is a cultured writer, and while the mechanics of his prose strike me as occasionally clumsy, particularly his use of long run-on sentences it is clear that he knows very much about much. He is also naturally funny. One has to have patience for all his benign partisan interludes. The book closes on an anecdote. Vidal is discussing the Founding Fathers with JFK. The young President observed that the founders were a class of Americans unrivaled in statesmanship, erudition, and brilliance. Surveying the political scene of the last thirty years, it is impossible to even imagine a politician possessing half of their talents.
March 9, 2009
Sure it's more pseudo-history filled with little commentaries and diatribes, but Inventing a Nation is thoughtful, well written, and enjoyable. Vidal's main characters are Adams, Jefferson, Washington, and Hamilton. He wants to love Jefferson and wants to hate Adams, but just can't commit in either case. The book mainly spans the eras of the Constitutional Convention and the presidencies of Washington and Adams. Throughout, Vidal ridicules Americanisms such as Mount Rushmore (for its gaudiness), and he tries to apply some of the lessons of post-Revolution America to the U.S. today. These comparisons, of course, are all criticisms.
March 8, 2008
Awful. Not even complete sentences.
April 9, 2008
too much a commentary
August 28, 2008
Vidal's condescending political commentary interrupts an otherwise enjoyable history. This is a far cry from McCullough's John Adams biography.
May 2, 2013
First read 9/17/08
My favorite part is Gore's coda...last comments...
My favorite part is Gore's coda...last comments...
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