EXCELLENT--Vidal is able to transport you back to that very time and place when
a still relatively young nation is on the verge of perhaps dying a premature death and gives the reader and up close and personal view of Lincoln struggling mightily to come up with a "treatment plan" to save the "patient". Gore makes Lincoln and all of the others players in the drama very real and vivid.

Sad to see just how far down the rabbit hole of conspiracy thinking Vidal fell in the later years. Especially because sprinkled throughout these essays are startlingly insightful points and revelations. I particularly liked his comment that if drugs didn't exist the government would have had to create them for it couldn't have asked for a better excuse for putting vast swaths of its own population on the wrong side, and thus the exploitable side, of the law. Unfortunately these moments are outnumbered by descents into blatant conspiracy thinking. Including, in the most worrisome moment, hypotheses on Opus Dei's control of the FBI.

I want to believe in a fair democratic process but there is a subworld underneath the surface. What is exposed isn't wholesome or good or even christian. If destiny is written on stone I am not optimistic of the outcome.

It is very difficult to say that I enjoyed this book, although I infinitely respect those that incessantly question the propaganda that passionately fuels the ignorant. It is all too easy to point a finger and label a person, group, or country as "the bad guy"--the typical dark-skinned Disney villain that hates freedom and lurks in the darkness, waiting to devour all that America deems American. It was hard to get through a whole page without clenching my fists and cursing the blind nationalism that has nearly assassinated common sense. I don't condone terrorist acts, but I do understand the mentality behind them. When one is consumed in war, not only with a country that justifies its own power at whatever cost, but also with others that once were brethren until foreigners came, colonized, and drew borders wherever they wished, I can see the icy hatred that replaces joy and contentment. I hope against hope that power-hungry scavengers of profit will take a look in the mirror and realize that they would hate a hegemonic oligarchy that believes it is divinely ordained to slaughter men, women, and children in the name of socio-cultural and economic imperialism.

Interesting political commentary regarding the Oklahoma City bombings and Timothy McVeigh.

This collection that was published in early 2002 consists of several previous magazine articles along with some additional notes. It's a state of the nation type of thing that was quite prescient for 2002: newsmedia as state-sponsored propaganda & extensive police state, etc. I'm not fully onboard with every conspiracy theory, but lots of things in the world don't make sense. For instance, it never seemed quite right that one person acted completely alone to commit the OKC bombing on 4/19/95. And this was my first exposure to that conspiracy theory. It was also the first time I heard of a Henley hero which is an archetype that I think is highly relevant for the modern world.

This is not one of the best things that I have read by the usually excellent writer Gore Vidal. Actually, most of the book consists of reprinted articles. The book is about both the gradual whittling away of the legal rights of US citizens, and the USA's desire to dominate the rest of the world. While much of what Gore writes in this book is worrying in that it may contain much more than a grain of truth, he damages his cause and weakens his arguments by writing in a way that sounds rather like a rant.

Exposes the corruption and crimes committed by American government on foreign soil, and here, too, in USA; in a very contrarian fashion, Gore Vidal elegantly articulates what the shame American government keeps secret, the type of secret that'd gage a reaction, if only one knew.

The book is a briefing on the Oklahoma City bombings and a summary of events/political plays that led to 911. Easy and insightful read.

I don't read many books like this. I usually stick to Sci-Fi and Fantasy, with some nonfiction thrown in when something neat catches my eye. I didn't really know what to expect from this book. I thought the title was catchy and it definitely piqued my interest to be sure. Reading the blurb on the back, I figured I'd find some entertainment but hoped there was no rhetoric shoved down my throat as I made my way through the book. Is that the case? Let's find out below.

Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace revolves around explaining why the US Government is hated abroad and, more importantly, at home. I think we all have some mistrust of the USG(overnment) and most people have good reason for it I believe. This book definitely touches on all those points in a succinct manner. It isn't densely worded or needlessly pretentious in it's delivery. You're given the author's opinion, backed by statistics that sometimes are shocking to read.

Largely this book focuses on the Waco, Texas attack on the Branch Davidians by the ATF and the subsequent bombing of the Murrah Federal Building by Timothy McVeigh. I had no real knowledge of the bombing besides a basic understanding that it WAS bombed. The book does a superb job of weaving the USG's heavy handed and aggressive tactics against a group that just wanted to be left alone and Timothy McVeigh's "counter-attack" against the government. I didn't expect the depth that the book went into to explain everything.

Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace is expertly woven into a book filled with information that is easy to digest and allows the reader to form their own opinion without forcing the reader to accept Gore Vidal's viewpoints. If you want a good set of works on too much government oversight and the problems it will (and has) led to, then I largely recommend this book to you. It will make you reconsider your thoughts on certain topics AND it definitely rings true in 2018.

Brilliant

Incredibly prescient... Happy 4th of July from the military industrial complex.

Gore Vidal is certainly a great writer and is definitely intelligent, but such is his skill that he wields it arrogantly. Vidal is the smartest person on the planet, everyone else are semi-functional rubes compared to him.

Vidal is certainly funny, however I worry that at some point he may have even harmed his own mouth with his acid tongue.

Overall, Vidal is has interesting ideas which are mostly backed up by assertion, wild speculation, and hyperbolic description none of which has a single citation behind it.

Perhaps it’s just me, but I was lead to believe that the book is about 9/11, when in actuality it’s mostly about Timothy McVeigh, felt a bit cheated by that.