Historical fiction is an art form. If the events are factually correct, the personalities of the characters believable and the presentations interesting, it is by far my favorite genre. “Burr,” by Gore Vidal, an author I had not read prior to this book, does a fine job presenting one of the most interesting, yet least known, Founding Father’s. I both listened to the Audible version (outstandingly narrated) and read the text. Since the narration was so good, I recommend it over the text. I found this book to be fun to read, and I learned a lot. I did some research on facts that I was not aware of and can find no inconsistencies. I recommend it.

I have always been so BORED by US history but now I realize I was only bored by how it is presented in American high school history class. I mean, just look at the Washington perched on the 1$ bill, looking himself bored as all get out. The only real story I can summon about him readily is the cherry tree one about "I cannot tell a lie", which is a big yawn, and furthermore now that I am thinking of it as an adult I am even more suspicious as I know of no political leader or any type of leader really that doesn't lean on the occasional convenient lie. But Vidal's US history is delightfully irreverent. Suddenly Washington becomes a man with womanly hips who didn't manage to win a single battle yet whose dull complacency managed a nation of these divided colonies to make.

I think one problem with the traditional lens of US history is that we tend as a nation to look back at the course of our history as predetermined, an inevitable march towards the beacon of democracy. Vidal understands that this is not at all the case, and that the early founders weren't at all convinced even that the states should remain united. Democracy as we understand it today was never their goal, either- only a tiny percentage of the male population even had the right to vote at all. The Virginia junto, as Burr calls it, had goals vastly different than those of New Englanders, or of the wild frontiersmen. The Constitution is in the end a vague document that can be and is twisted in many different ways to mean many different things, and the process of this twisting was at time vicious.

But I jumped too quickly into the larger themes. This book is, at heart, a character study of Aaron Burr, a guy up there with Benedict Arnold as one of the Voldemorts of the early Union. The only time I really thought about Burr before was on a food tour in NYC I went on with some visitors, where the tour guide casually pointed out where Hamilton and Burr had challenged each other to a duel. I had never realized before that a sitting vice president had literally dueled to the death with Alexander Hamilton. I mean, come on, what a crazy place this newfledged US nation was. I dunno if Burr was really this clever and fascinating in real life, but man was it delightful to enjoy his cutting wit in this book. I would even call it laugh out loud at certain points.

Highlights:
-any time Burr went on a tear about how awful Jefferson was
-Washington's "womanly hips"
-entertaining escapades with women, a subplot that continued until his divorce on his day of death
-haunting description of the duel with Hamilton
-surprise twist ending!

I enjoyed 'Julian' which was written by Vidal about the most consequential of the last Roman emperors. I wholeheartedly loved Vidal’s non-fiction compilation 'Essays on America' that won the Pulitzer and displayed the wit and precision of arguably the best essayist of our modern era. However I did not love 'Burr' the novel nearly as much.

'Burr', published in 1973, was a very popular historical fictional novel. Aaron Burr, the central character, was a minor revolutionary hero, first rate politician, our third vice president, Alexander Hamilton’s assassin in America’s most famous duel, arrested for treason (later acquitted) for a conspiracy to start war with Spain near modern day Texas, a charmer, a cad, a father of many illegitimate children and someone who fostered many lasting relationships with many influential people in New York.

One would be hard pressed to find many American historical characters from whom so much material could be drawn. Gore Vidal certainly thought Burr a fascinating character and conducted many years of research in penning this novel. This work intersperses Burr’s memoirs, nearly twenty of them, with a real time narrative about an aging Burr composed by a fictional journalist Charles Schuyler. Vidal, through Schuyler, portrays Burr as charming, cheeky and a bit of a benevolent rogue.

So perhaps not a great read for me but not awful either. Unlike 'Julian' the Burr narrative timeline bounced around a lot, between present-day 1830’s and earlier interesting events in Burr’s life. While Vidal’s writing is crisp as usual, I just didn’t find the story with all of the manufactured dialogue of Burr’s final three years very interesting. I think the novel would have been much, much better focusing exclusively on all the facets of his earlier life.

Three stars.

It's the first novel I've read by Gore Vidal; an enthralling alternative view for Hamilton fans. History is truly a network of stories told from different points of view. Great fun!

Aaron Burr, sir. I think you are incredible. Review to come

If you want to read about American history but don't want to read non-fiction then read this series of books, 'Narratives of Empire'. This is the first, deals with the War of Independence and the first 40 years of the 19th Century, through the experiences of Colonel Aaron Burr, one time Vice-President who took part in a duel and fatally wounded his opponent during his term in office, and was later accused of treason. Vidal always writes entertainingly, full of sly humour and often provocative opinions. If you don't want to read all seven books but would like to dip in, then I would recommend 'Lincoln', the second book, and the last one 'The Golden Age'. No real need to read them in order as they do not follow precisely one from another.

I really enjoyed this book. It's an historical novel rather than a true biography, and much of it is written as a reflection of Burr's point of view. Naturally, Burr emphasizes the negative qualities of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and Hamilton, while leaving out much of the positive, presenting Burr as the most competent of the founding fathers. His criticism of Washington would probably bother most people, though there are certainly elements of truth in it. Washington's value during the War was not his strategic military prowess but in his leadership ability in keeping the army together. In this book, Burr focuses only on Washington's military failures. Burr's criticism of Jefferson was thorough and, I believe, mostly accurate. It was fun for Burr to defend his actions in the Hamilton duel and in his subsequent attempt to create a new empire in Mexico, a failed venture that ultimately became reality about 30 years later with the establishment of Texas. One of the recurring questions throughout the book is whether Martin Van Buren was actually an illegitimate son of Aaron Burr, which was apparently a rumor in the early 19th century but never proven.

It is noteworthy that Vidal mentions that his presentation of history through Burr's eyes does not necessarily reflect Vidal's own view of history. Vidal said in the afterword that he personally thinks more highly of Jefferson and less highly of Andrew Jackson than Burr does in this book.

Also, excellent audio narration by Grover Gardner.

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3122632.html

This turned out to be a surprisingly timely read. Gore Vidal tells the story of Aaron Burr through a young journalist, Charlie Schuyler (“not one of *the* Schuylers”), who downloads Burr’s version of his career in the months before his death in 1836. It’s a nice alternate take on the received version of America’s founding story (which has been reinforced by Hamilton), rather like his novel about Julian the Apostate (who has however had rather better historiography than Aaron Burr). The book is rather long, but there is a lot of story here, including also young Schuyler’s ultimately doomed relationship with a sex worker.

When this was published in 1973, it was seen as commentary on Watergate. I’m sure that Watergate was in Vidal’s mind, and I have seen contemporary reviews complaining that he portrays Washington and Jefferson as less than heroic. For me the most interesting nuance was Andrew Jackson, the president of the day in 1836, who had come to power as a revolutionary and failed to really deliver much more than patronage for his friends; Burr remembers him as a young and fairly mainstream political actor, who only later decided that it suited him to be anti-establishment.

Going back a bit, I was interested by the reflections on the Revolutionary War, particularly the story of the Arnold/Montgomery invasion of Canada and the general critique of Washington’s leadership. The Burr defensive account of the election of 1800 is of course revisionist. But there are some nicely done twists at the end which remind us that Burr, like everyone else, is an unreliable narrator.

I enjoyed this, and I would positively recommend it as an expansion of the Hamilton universe; not so much to readers who are not interested in early American politics. Also it should be said that Vidal does not give the women of Burr’s story much voice.

Vidal. That name says it all. Hey, I'm a poet? Geesssh! I loved him years ago when I read him. Think my father was reading this one, and like a lot of my early picks, I read it too. Also, read lots of my sisters books. They were a great help in getting my love for books going. But back to the books, the man . . . Want to learn about history in an interesting way? Read him!

Aaron Burr recalls the memories of his past and confides in the law clerk who is writing Burr's biography. Covering the time period of 1833-1840, the focus is on the Revolutionary War, the presidency of Alexander Hamilton's time in office, Burr's vice presidency to Thomas Jefferson and the military efforts of George Washington.

There has been no greater shadow in American History, no greater enigma than the US's 3rd Vice President, almost President, and near King of Louisiana, Aaron Burr. Mostly known for killing Fmr. Treasury Secretary and opposition party leader, Alexander Hamilton, Burr is also known, less so, for invading Louisiana shortly after it was purchased by the US, getting caught, tried for treason and beating every charge easily.

This ficticious look at Burr's history is a dramatic telling of the absurdity of the history we remember (Washington was great....), the history we chose to forget (... even though he lost nearly every battle he was in and was, at best, a laissez-faire Executive), and the history we refuse to remember (like the stuff about the US wanting to invade Mexico since the pre-Revolution days, leading to Hamilton wanting to do it under Adams, Burr trying in 1805, then the problems with Texas, culminating in the war of aggression by the US taking large chunks of Mexico because it could). All the while, a story unfolds that the America we remember is not necessarily the America that was.

Burr is the perfect foil for this as he remembers what many American chose to forget- most notably Burr himself. A man of vigor, passion, ability, charisma, skill and ambition (heavens forbid) who came close to greatness on many occasions. And who was so blatant about what so many others were so hypocritical about- the need to invade Mexico.

When Mexico lost Texas shortly before Burr's death, he only commented, "What was treasonous in my day is patriotism now; I was just 30 years too soon."

"Although Americans justify their self-interest in moral terms, their true interest is never itself moral. Yet, paradoxically, only Americans - a few, that is- ever try to be moral in politics."
-- Gore Vidal

Vidal takes full responsibility for his perjury. Okay he only admits to errors and anachronisms, but sides himself with Richard Nixon in the process. Burr is a wonderful tale, finding delight in skewering the reputations of the Founding Fathers and all the hypocrisy which didn't make its way into elementary school textbooks. Well, the ones I was exposed to during the late 70s. It was also written at the height of Watergate.

Unlike most historical fiction, Burr breathes. The sighs it emits are laced with bourbon. I loved this book, though the royal ear grew weary with too many notes. That remains my problem, not Vidal's..