Remembering Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal spent decades criticizing the religious right, US imperialism, perpetual wars, political extremism in the name of national security, America's military/industrial complex, and other political, social and economic injustices.
On July 31, Gore Vidal died from complications of pneumonia at his Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles home. He was 86. Many labels characterize him: distinguished author, essayist, playwright, historian, acerbic sociopolitical/cultural critic, freethinker, intellectual, and humanist. In 2009, the American Humanist Association (AHA) named him honorary president. Los Angeles Times writer Elaine Woo called him a "gadfly on the national conscience" and "literary juggernaut." He was that and much more. He'll be missed.
■ New York Times writer Charles McGrath said he was "an Augustan figure who believed himself to be the last of a breed, and he was probably right. Few American writers have been more versatile or gotten more mileage from their talent."
■ Random House editor Jason Epstein called him "an American version of Montaigne."
■ As an essayist, New York Time Book Review writer RWB Lewis said he was "so good that we cannot do without him. He (was) a treasure of state."
■ London Guardian writer Richard Lea called him "one of the towering figures of American cultural and political life for more than six decades."