This is an entertaining, entirely readable book about the men and women who went against the grain and refused to see the virtue in America's interventionism and imperialism in the 20th century.

These are not the people who opposed the war in Vietnam. There are hundreds of books about that. These are the real isolationists: the ones who failed to support WWII in spite of the fact that their dissent ruined their reputations and sometimes careers.

America First! is the ultimate book for people who refuse to follow the crowd and who cannot bring themselves to believe that sometimes it's okay to send young men to agony and death overseas.

As the previous reviewer noted, Kauffman writes about people and the left and on the right because, of course, both parties were unabashedly in favor of fighting both world wars and pacifist conservatives and liberals were always on the fringes. Kauffman offers some memorable anecdotes and introduces some truly interesting characters (like the Roosevelt relative who helped FDR cheat on Eleanor but could not stomach his bloody war and wasn't ashamed to admit it).

If you feel like you're the only pacifist on earth, read this book and discover that you're among some amazing company. Thank you, Mr. Kauffman.

This terrific study of American "isolationism" (i.e., non-interventionism) may be one of the most important political manuals of the last several years. And it may be the first why-to/how-to guide for building a viable Left-Right political coalition. You see, as Kauffman explains it, an America First, mind-your-own-business foreign policy is one area where the far Left and the far Right have often agreed. Therefore, although you might expect this volume to be filled with profiles of Pat Buchanan and other right-wingers, it's not; rather, it examines the ideas of such notable America Firsters as Jack Kerouac, Gore Vidal, and Edward Abbey--all of them Men of the Left. The New Left of the 1960s and much of today's non-interventionist, anti-state Hard Right have a lot in common, Kauffman says. Perhaps it's time the two extremes joined hands in defiance of America's Military Industrial Complex

Having read this book immediately after Ethan Mordden's "How Long Has This Been Going On?" this book provided a more intense view of the gay underground in the late-40's and early 50's. Not only intriguing for gay readers, but for anyone whose illusions have been shattered in an endless pursuit of an ideal.

The story takes you into the world that Keroak prefered to omit in 'On the Road'. Vidal is daring and honest. Had I read this when I was 18, my life would have been very different.

Very interesting author - just read i

Romulus is one of the biggest hits of this sardonic Swiss playwright and novelist. Known in the USA only for The Viisit and the Physicists, Durrenmatt is one of this century's most brilliant theatrical lights. His works are informed by sardonic humor, beautiful language, intriguing plot twists, high suspense (he pot-boiled murder mysteries)and political insight. His essays are also interesting. Anything by him is going to be a good read.

Gore Vidal's first book as the mystery writer Edgar Box, a pseudonym he was forced to take after the notoriety of The City and the Pillar made him a public figure and critical dartboard. The City and the Pillar was pilloried by some for its portrayal of homosexuality; here the fictional Box goes in the other direction and exposes us to predatory male ballet stars and diva fag hags. All, ultimately, in savage good fun and the gossipy good writing Vidal is famous for. He declared it took him eight days to write; well, the book's a quick read, and despite the dated-ness of its settings (forties NYC) remains a racy, picaresque thriller which in the best spirit of its author rocks the conventions of its genre

In his memoirs, Gore Vidal calls this novel the beginning of his literary voice. It is a joy to read, and appears to have been a joy to write, for this youthful, vibrant, charismatic novel flows effortlessly through cities, affairs, and misadventures. Colorful characters abound -- early on there's an uproariously matter-of-fact description of our hero's casual fling with the wife of an American power broker. The mythological superstructure of the book -- glorious youth flirting with power, wisdom, and love -- is light enough for Vidal's characters to prance and amuse. It's a nice departure from his oh-so-serious historical novels and a welcome, balletic hop into Vidal's fantasies. He wrote this novel around 1950 -- when peace and prosperity were just re-emerging after wartime. Read this book, if only to see Gore Vidal exercise a masterful light touch years before he turned bitter.

Gore Vidal's recent non-fiction writings have been disappointing, but this book is a gem. It is an early attempt at autobiography, years before "Palimpsest" and in some ways deeper. Vidal's early years in the thirties coincided with Hollywood's golden age, and in "Screening History" he reflects on the movies which most influenced him, particularly those versions of British and American history, such as "The Prince and the Pauper", "Fire over England" and "Young Mr. Lincoln". Vidal shares his reminiscences not only on the movies themselves but also on their historical context in the pre-WWII US of the thirties, but in far more serene and thoughtful way than in later writings, where he sounds increasingly bitter. His musings on the possible influence of 1939 movies on then President Bush are apparently not to be taken too seriously and are far more agreeable than his later simplistic comments on presidents in "The American Presidency". Altogether this is not the best, but arguably the most pleasant of Vidal's books.

This book chronicles not only texts of key speeches showing the evolution of Lincoln's view of slavery, but also insightful letters revealing some private thoughts of this shrewd railroad lawyer whose ambition propelled him to heights that made him the best President our Republic has ever seen. The 1838 Lyceum speech of Lincoln's youth gives stunning insight into that ambition. This book supports the notion that Lincoln was also the greatest writer to ever occupy the White House, revealing an impressive variety of literary styles, from meticulous legal argumentation to a dry, concise wit. In light of Lincoln's literary legacy, it is no wonder that each President since Woodrow Wilson has deemed the aid of professional speechwriters vital to their strategies. And even with the professional help the modern chief executives have gotten, Lincoln's rhetoric remains the most sublime of all our Presidents.

I wrote VIEWS with Gore Vidal almost twenty years ago. It is a delight to see that it has been a source of information for various scholars throughout these many years. I arranged the book in a new way for doing interviews, putting Vidal into a dramatic setting where he had to answer questions from more than twenty of us engaged in interviewing him. I myself interviewed him off and on for more than three years. Reviewers at the time called my format a new kind of Mega-interview form. I recently included material from VIEWS in a huge 750-page study that will be published by Edwin Mellen Press in 2001, a work to be known as GORE VIDAL: A MENIPPEAN SATIRIST. Vidal is America's greatest satirist--ever! And those people who read VIEWS will see that Vidal spares very few his quick thrusts of ridicule to bring them down to earth for a good laugh--at their expense, of course.

Borjesson's "Buzzsaw" is a collection of well-researched insider stories from journalists who sometimes had to fight insurmountable odds to tell the truth. Because these are heroic tales from survivors, the book is a real page-turner from beginning to end.

These heroes fought (and most are still fighting) deep behind the newspaper banner pages and out of sight of the cameras - fought to give you the facts on various stories. Most of these people have paid a very high price for their dedication to the truth. These are the stories about the stories - and information that powerful vested interests preferred that we not hear about. Reason enough to read this book.

If you are at all interested in how the news gets "processed" on its way to your eyes and ears you have to read these stories. That process is currently impaired. In the land of the free press our media got sold to commercial interests and that is the story that we now urgently need to understand. Like the air we breathe, the media is somewhat tranparent. But even if it gets polluted slowly and imperceptibly we will still suffocate.

Borjesson brings tales of the possibility of fresh air.

A democracy depends on a well-informed citizenry and therefore an unbiased watchdog in the media. Universally, survival depends on clear minimally distorted perceptions of the world.

As a design engineer myself, I can assure you that no system is perfect. But after you better understand the news process problems scrupulously detailed in this collection, you may realize like I did that you must do something about it yourself. Thankfully we still live in a nation where we can effect improvements.

Continued ignorance may be bliss, but it is not safety.

If you're like me, perennially skeptical about conspiracy theories and "unsubstantiated" claims, you're in for a shock. I used to blame the dumbed-down American media on a "dumb public" - I said, "we're getting what we asked for." Now I see that this idea was not just arrogant and supercillious (I knew that already!) - it's also dumb, and dangerously misinformed.

This is an exceptionally brave and candid book in which over a dozen award-winning journalists detail a shocking, and rapidly growing, pattern of media censorship in America. It's an excellent introduction to the state of information - and misinformation - in America today, and helps explain why, in the midst of an information flood, the American public is unaware of the deeper picture of government and corporate corruption.

You get the stories straight from the journalists who wrote them, how reporters had to fight for years to get some of the biggest investigative reports of the 1990's into the press - and how many of them lost their jobs in the process.

Into The Buzzsaw shows how corporations and the federal government use the legal system to blackmail the media into silence, and how the consolidation of media ownership and the quest for profits has nearly obliterated the media's service of the public's need to know. The book explains, with detailed examples, how mainstream, respected journalists and editors go out of their way to discredit colleagues for daring to expose taboo information.

For instance, one author is Gary Webb, who wrote the San Jose Mercury News story about the CIA's sale of pure cocaine in LA, which preciptated the national crack cocaine epidemic. You've heard that the story didn't "hold up under scrutiny", right? A BIG lie, perpetrated by the "respectable media".

We're being taken a for a ride folks, and not toward where we want to go. Read this book, and begin to wake up. But, fair warning; it will make you very angry.

As a professional journalist, who studied under Fred Friendly at the Columbia U. School of Journalism, I find this the most important (and in light of recent 9/11 FBI revelations, timely) book about American journalism in many years. I read through its 381 pages in just a few days, amazing since I'm not an especially fast reader. I could hardly put it down.
Why?
-First, these are great tales written by great writers.
-Second, these are accomplished pros and their experiences span a wide range of media outlets and topics.
-Third, this book makes a pusuasive case both that investigative reporting is essential to an informed American public & the survival of American democracy *and* that it is being sabotaged, by either intention or default, by media companies that (I deduce) are so profit-driven and risk aversive that they can barely be considered as practicing serious journalism.

Anyone who is bored by this book is either sleep deprived, on a controlled substance, or is predisposed against it. After reading this book, it became evident to me that it is now up to journalists ourselves to defend our work and democracy. We are truly America's last hope for an informed public.

This is the only Gore Vidal novel I've been able to get through but it is itself a fantastic novel of the decline of the Roman empire. Vidal's unusual writing style serves him well as the narrative shifts back and forth from the correspondence of two powerful senators and Julian's own memoirs. The story (how historically accurate I cannot say,) tells the story of the young prince Julian living at the mercy of his dreaded cousin the Emperor. When events come into play he is thrust into the supreme seat of power himself and must combat not only the barabrians to the east, but the empire's own viral infection: Christianity. Julian's attempts to return the empire to the paganism that served it so well in years past is at the very heart of this story. One can certainly feel the court paranoia that prevailed in these troubled times that rivaled the excesses of Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia. This is a great book and one that I would highly recommend to anyone interested in this era or in the workings of political power in general.

First of all this was the most entertaining and believable work of historical fiction I have ever read. Everytime I read about Julian, whether through Marcellinus or in secondary works I envision him as the character presented in this masterpiece. Vidal successfully presents Julian as a strong individual, albeit a suppressed youth reacting against the anti-intellectual religion(christianity/arianism) of his cousin, Emperor Constantius II. Vidal does a good job portraying Julian as an almost Marcus Aurelius like figure, balancing philosophy with the military defense of the empire. Sometimes Julian wishes he were just a philosopher and other times he believes he is the reincarnation of Alexander the Great, although the latter seems to be a common trend among hellenized roman Emperors. This book is not only worth reading for those interested in late antiquity, it is an essential work that should supplement Marcellinus's later roman history. If only Julian had lived as long as Octavian!!

I've previously read Lincoln and Creation by Gore Vidal, and enjoyed them both, but it was nothing compared to Julian. Creation is a more thoughtful and more subtle work, and Lincoln is amazingly truthful and very rich in details, altough an american reader will like it more than a non-american one.
In these two works I was very glad to find that Vidal is propense to make comedy, with amusing lines and laughable conversation.

Julian is a different kind of book. To tell the story of the roman emperor dubed The Apostate, the one who tried to restrain Christianity and go back to helenism, Vidal uses the system of a letter correspondence between Prisco and Libanius, two of Julian friends or advisors. Prisco and Libanius don't like each other and exchange veiled accusations in their letters, and that's the fun part of the book. Libanius has Julian notations and memories, so it's Julian who tells his own story, Prisco and Libanius only commenting when they find it necessary.

Julian wanted to be only a philosopher, he was thrown to the throne against his will, he had to hold back his feelings against the christians, being nephew to Constantine the Great, the emperor who ruled christianity as Rome's official religion. He stayed only a couple if years as emperor, he was adored as much as hated, he became one of the most important general of his time ans he was finally misteriously murdered.
But, unlike other roman emperors known to be raving mad assassins, Julian was a calm, thinking governant.

Although in my oppinion Vidal thinks of himself much more than he really ought to, this book is one of the best and most entertaining I ever read.

Grade 9.2/10