by Gore Vidal (Author)
Gore Vidal's reputation as America's finest essayist is an enduring one. This collection, chosen by the author from 40 years of work, contains about two-thirds of what he published in various magazines and journals. He has divided the essays into three categories, or states. State of the art covers literature, including novelists and critics, bestsellers, pieces on Henry James, Oscar Wilde, Suetonius, Nabakov and Montaigne (a previosly uncollected essay from 1992). State of the union deals with politics and public life: sex, drugs, money, Abraham Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, The Holy Family (his essay on the Kennedys), Nixon, and finally Monotheism and its Discontents , a scathing critique of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. In state of being, we are given personal responses to people and events: recollections of his childhood, E. Nesbit, Tarzan, Tennessee Williams and Anais Nin.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 1312
Publisher: Abacus
Published: 22 Sep 1994
ISBN 10: 0349105243
ISBN 13: 9780349105246
Book Overview: A collection of essays taken from 40 years of the author's work. It is divided into three sections: State of the Art , which covers literature; State of the Union , which deals with politics and public life; and State of Being , which gives his personal responses to people and events.
Prizes: Winner of United States National Book Awards: Nonfiction 1993.