Since most people would not be especially interested in Gore Vidal's schooldays, we wonder if the present title is meant to chime with 'The Education of Henry Adams', often named as the best non-fiction book ever written. Adams (of the presidential family) had been wrestling with America's cultural shift from classical to industrial, and it is possible to see parallels here, with the high-born Vidal as monitor of the 20th century.
That mention of education also raises a particular irony. Following his military service, Vidal started at once on his fiction-writing career, thus becoming that increasingly rare commodity, the non-college boy, lavishing praise on another one, the self-taught Abraham Lincoln. The president he ridicules so keenly is the (college-educated) Reagan, joking that his library has burned down with the loss of both books! Yet Reagan now ranks alongside Lincoln as one of the most effective presidents, and this could be a clue to why there was never a President Vidal.
However, he decided quite early that writers tell the truth for a living, while politicians tell lies. And he opted for the writing life, issuing a series of highly original historical novels ('narratives of empire'), featuring real presidents and other notable office-holders. He becomes much absorbed in the imperial theme, seeing America develop like ancient Rome. And it hardly seems coincidence that he should have lived most of his later life in Italy.
Vidal's elitist sneering makes a refreshing change from the false humility that bedevils most political dialogue, and the clean, sharp phrasing can disarm critics too. Sometimes we can even applaud him without quite knowing why. I thought 'a nation of shoplifters' sounded very neat - until I wondered what he was talking about.
