About the Author

Gore Vidal, novelist, essayist, and playwright, is one of America's great men of letters. Among his many books are United States: Essays 1951-1991 (winner of the National Book Award), Burr: A Novel, Lincoln, and the recent Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace.

Reviews

"Washington's steady presence and regal confidence more than compensated for his poor performance in the field against British generals, themselves every bit as striking in their mediocrity as he." "If Adams was the loftiest of the scholars at the First Congress, Thomas Jefferson was the most intricate character, gifted as writer, architect, farmer - and, in a corrupt moment, he allowed his cook to give birth to that unique dessert later known as the Baked Alaska." "Adams alone saw virtues in monarchy - not England's but one of our own, with titles for the men of power (due to his elliptical shape he was dubbed His Rotundity).