'Gore Vidal's America' By Dennis Altman: Polity Press, Cambridge, 2005, pp 216, $41.95 (paper)

During his now-sixty year career as writer, political commentator and social critic, Gore Vidal has passed comment – usually of a wittily incisive and scabrous nature – on a wide range of topics. He has also passed judgement on a fair number of people, and it is not difficult to find a ready fund of Vidal’s well-honed quips and acidic ‘apercus’ relating to famous or otherwise notable personages. In Dennis Altman’s words, ‘Vidal […] has entertained, declaimed, pontificated, and satirized in ways that have made him a controversial public figure for over half a century’ (p.174); and for his irreverent animadversions he has drawn both the ire and admiration of many.