I heard about Gore Vidal's passing today. Last night I was up as usual in some ungodly hour reading his historical novel 'Empire'. I thought maybe he had died a few years back. 'Empire' is a world of wealth and deceit of media empires and the purchasing of political power, America's duty to rule the world etc. All set in the around the turn of the last century from the 19th to the 20th. I am finding it really a good read.
Up in Oregon my brother in law has a book on the shelf called 'The Second American Revolution' I was looking forward to taking another read at that. It's a collection of Vidal's essays, no real revolutionary outlines etc just a man with a critical take on the directions of political stupidity has taken over the years.
To see Gore Vidal on Dick Cavett or wherever he managed to make an appearance on TV in the 70's or 80's was to get a chance to hear someone say something rarely heard -- poking, probing, mocking our Imperial Empire.
