10 Best Gore Vidal Books

Lincoln arrives in Washington under threat of assassination and takes office as the nation moves toward civil war. Vidal follows the next four years through political conflict, wartime decisions, and the effort to preserve the Union.

An elderly Aaron Burr tells his story to a young journalist, offering an alternative view of America's founding figures. His recollections challenge established reputations while revisiting the ambitions, rivalries, and accusations that shaped his own controversial career.

Cyrus Spitama, a Persian diplomat, travels across the ancient world during an age of competing empires and emerging philosophies. His encounters with different religious and political traditions frame an inquiry into creation, belief, and the organization of human society.

Julian, the Roman emperor remembered as the Apostate, attempts to restore pagan religion in an increasingly Christian empire. Vidal follows his intellectual convictions, military ambitions, and political struggles through a fictional reconstruction of the fourth-century Roman world.

Myra arrives at Buck Loner's Academy of Drama and Modeling with strong opinions about Hollywood and an ambitious plan for its students. Vidal's satire uses her disruptive presence to explore gender, sexual power, and American popular culture.

Charles Schuyler returns to America after decades in Europe, bringing his widowed daughter Emma and hopes of restoring their fortunes. His journal records Washington society and political maneuvering during the contested presidential election of the nation's centennial year.

Vidal recalls the first forty years of his life, from childhood in Senator T. P. Gore’s Washington household through military service and literary success. Personal relationships, famous acquaintances, and his congressional campaign intersect with the wider political world.

Jim Willard carries the memory of an adolescent encounter into his adult search for love and belonging. Moving through different American social worlds, he confronts expectations around masculinity, sexuality, and the distance between remembered intimacy and present relationships.

Drawing on essays written from 1952 to 1992, Vidal surveys American intellectual and political life. Literary criticism, portraits of public figures, and personal reminiscences examine subjects including presidential politics, religion, sexuality, and the work of fellow authors.

As the United States emerges as a world power at the turn of the twentieth century, Caroline Sanford struggles to direct her own future. Her ambitions unfold within a newspaper dynasty and an expanding culture of political influence.