IMPERIAL AMERICA: REFLECTIONS ON THE UNITED STATES OF AMNESIA

New York City, NY: Nation Books, 2004. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. New York City, NY: Nation Books, 2004. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 181 pages. Retrospective collection of essays. The third and final volume in Gore Vidal's political analyses of the State of The Union in our time. The first two volumes, "Perpetual War For Perpetual Peace" and "Dreaming War", are now regarded as contemporary classics. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Gore Vidal's "Imperial America: Reflections On The United States of Amnesia". Welcome to the United States of America. Those who forget are condemned to repeat the same mistake over and over again. "Tackles the American imperial impulse, placing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the context of America's 1846 seizure of California and the later annexation of colonies in the Pacific. Vidal's vast knowledge of American history and his blazing wit set him apart. Vidal's fierce, vitriolic voice remains relevant" (John Green). The storm of controversy his book generated demonstrated that Gore Vidal, approaching the end of a long and brilliant career and in very frail health, still had what it took to shake things up and rattle the powers-that-be. Contrary to popular belief, Vidal was not an ideologue at all. Like other independent minds, he had little use for ideology, whether of the Left or the Right. Ideology is politics as dogma, orthodoxy, and received wisdom, the religion of our secular age. It is a poor substitute for thinking and a genuine worldview: Not Hegelian idealism, but instead an understanding of life that is grounded in reality, as things really are, and at the same time, a vision of what it can and ought to be. Gore Vidal died on July 31, 2012 at the age of 86, the last of the great American public intellectual/writers of our time. We live in the Age of Mediocrity, where (nearly) everyone is a critic/blogger/pundit mouthing timid, politically correct opinions. Pundits are retail thinkers, that is, they are not real thinkers. Someday, we will realize what we have irretrievably lost. An absolute "must-have" title for Gore Vidal collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in black pen on the half-title page by Gore Vidal. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. It comes with a rare and pristine copy of the lovely Souvenir Material of the event, one of his last, during which his signature was obtained. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. Recipient of the National Book Award's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009 for "Distinguished Contribution to American Letters". One of the greatest writers of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER GORE VIDAL TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1560255854.