Product Description

The United States has been engaged in what the great historian Charles A. Beard called "perpetual war for perpetual peace. " The Federation of American Scientists has cataloged nearly 200 military incursions since 1945 in which the United States has been the aggressor. In a series of penetrating and alarming essays, whose centerpiece is a commentary on the events of September 11, 2001 (deemed too controversial to publish in this country until now) Gore Vidal challenges the comforting consensus following September 11th and goes back and draws connections to Timothy McVeigh's bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. He asks were these simply the acts of "evil-doers?" "Gore Vidal is the master essayist of our age. " Washington Post "Our greatest living man of letters. "Boston Globe "Vidal's imagination of American politics is so powerful as to compel awe. "Harold Bloom, The New York Review of Books

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #716618 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

The Times
‘There is no one quite like him, and if you do not know his work you should.’

The Guardian
‘Gore Vidal is the most elegant, erudite and eclectic writer of his generation.’

The Observer
‘Vidal’s combination of learning, wit and disdain gets into your blood. He can change the way you think.’

Customer Reviews

Another masterpiece by Gore Vidal
PERPETUAL WAR FOR PERPETUAL PEACE is a collection of essays by Gore Vidal, who has been referred to as the master essayist of the century. In these essays Vidal explains why the United States has become so hated. Vidal also explains why the United States government has become hated by many of its own citizens.

Given the heinous reality of the crime committed by McVeigh, it is tempting to believe that Gore Vidal is excusing the murder of innocent Oklahoma citizens. But that is not the case. Vidal readily agrees that the killing of innocent people is wrong, and then proceeds to explain how the United States government - which he refers to as the greatest terrorist organization in the world - has set the precedent by killing many innocent people abroad (chapter one concludes with a 20 page list of the wars the United States has been engaged in - some still ongoing - over the past 50 years, noting that in most cases we struck the first blow), and many innocent people within its own borders, examples being Waco, Ruby Ridge, and even in Washington state (in each situation those killed had committed no crime).

Gore claims that the important piece to the McVeigh story is that the attack was a *retaliation* against the US government for its constant harassment - and in some cases murder of - its own citizens. The author states that the mainstream media portrayed McVeigh as having evolved in a vacuum, that he was irrational evil incarnate who killed only for the fun of it. To the contrary, the author argues that McVeigh, as well as the 9/11 terrorists, were provoked. Vidal, who opposes the death penalty, strongly agrees that two wrongs do not make a right, but nor does a third: McVeigh was put to death for his crime. The author claims that yet another piece of the story that we have not been given is that McVeigh may not have even committed the bombing. There is evidence that he may've taken the fall for friends, or that he may have opted for death rather than endure what the author refers to as the most barbaric prison system of all developed nations. (Vidal asserts that prison rape is so pervasive, and so ignored by authorities, that it could reasonably be considered a type of punishment endorsed by the US government.)

PERPETUAL WAR FOR PERPETUAL PEACE is one of the best books I have ever read. I highly recommend it in addition to Vidal's DREAMING WAR: BLOOD FOR OIL AND THE CHENEY-BUSH JUNTA.

Andrew Parodi

A breathtaking perspective on now
Vidal is one of the last independent thinkers, and this book is pure gold for anyone trying to see through the propoganda and simplistic presentations of modern media. What's more, he is a witty and stylish writer; in other words he educates you while offering a pleasurable read. Vidal's analysis of Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma bomber, is quite simply breathtaking. We are presented with a multi-layered perspective of wise insight. The message is clear: let's get beyond the 'good'/'evil' black and white 'thinking' of our dumbed-down mass-culture. Miss this one at your peril!

As Yoda speaks...
...Gore Vidal would not be Gore Vidal if he left the topic of this book at merely proving the more than 200 instances of United States "pre-emptive strike" military incursions that have taken place since the end of World War Two, proving the existence of the philosophy in the Pentagon that is sarcastically referred to by the title of the book. Vidal traces the dangerous link between Timothy Mcveigh and Osama bin Laden to moral anamolies in American foreign and domestic policy in much the same way one could trace the otherwise unrelated illnesses of heart disease and lung cancer to cigarette smoking. In so doing he demands us, whether or not we come to the same conclusions, to look at our own cultural selves and our country's leaders with new eyes: the eyes of much of the rest of the world.

Vidal is often too postmodern for his own good. As he approaches his late seventies (he is the author of twenty-two novels, tons of essays, plays and screenplays and was one of President Kennedy's best friends) his all too self-conscious "ascerbic wit" has begun to have a harder than necessary edge to it. You can almost see how the conversations he is writing for us have really become conversations he is having with himself, in the way a wise old man, slowly but inexplicably driving to Curmudgeonville after giving up on his audience or would-be students ever getting a clue would do. Yet the pearls of wisdom that thread through both this work and his infinitely insightful mind makes the book immeasurably important, and go a lot further in explainnig the souce of both his cynicism and the repressed, near uncontrollable passion he has for his country.

Something is missing in America today, something deeply important for the American soul. When that thing is concentrated or exaggerated to the point of absurdity in an individual (in inverse proportion to its absence in the culture) it produces the actions of the men who form the subject of several of his essays. But the value of this unnamed thing--and the fact that it is missing from our culture in areas where it is needed: our relationship with the non-rich world in and outside of our boundaries--comes clear with every page. That is the magic of great writers: making something invisible felt between every written word.

Vidal is a master whose talent nor reputation have ever been overstated. This book, which shockingly though unfortunately understandably could not be published in America when it was first written, is another of his gifts to the country he loves so much.