Often Well Written, but Shallow, Cranky and Old

These essays are often well written, but they are shallow in substance, cranky (in both senses, odd and peevish) and regurgitative.

Cranky-odd: He thinks there is a grand conspiracy between university professors and the dark government. There are certainly instances of that (Kissinger), but not grand conspiracy. He thinks Roosevelt conspired with English spies to dupe American into joining WWII. Yes, Roosevelt was deceptive and, yes, the British did try to influence US public opinion, but it was not the grand conspiracy that Vidal paints. And anyway, WWII was not WWI: American should have been against Hitler from 1939, not wait until Hitler declared war on the US. Vidal thinks Charles Lindbergh (a Vidal family friend) was a victim of this conspiracy. No, Lindbergh was a victim of being on the wrong side of a epochal question, and an anti-Semite to boot. Vidal sees a great grand conspiracy that links agro-business and farm foreclosures the Ruby Ridge killings, bully-cop drug busts and, of course, the IRS. I can't even begin to comment on that.

Vidal's general political views are no the left, where I am also. But ordinary when ordinary left-wing views are tainted by cranky-odd conspiracy theories, the author becomes cranky-peevish. As is Vidal.

The oddest and most disappointing part of this collection is that you think it will deal with the American Empire at the end of the 20th Century. There is some of that, but it is mostly about America in mid-century, material he has already covered -- more than once --in earlier books. Indeed, his most tedious essay is a rebuttal to a review of one of his earlier books. As a general matter, a writer should never rebut reviews of his own books. It is never pretty, and it is not pretty here.

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