Creation
Once again the incomparable Gore Vidal interprets and animates history -- this time in a panoramic tour of the 5th century B.C. -- and embellishes it with his own ironic humor, brilliant insights, and piercing observations. We meet a vast array of historical figures in a staggering novel of love,...
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Once again the incomparable Gore Vidal interprets and animates history -- this time in a panoramic tour of the 5th century B.C. -- and embellishes it with his own ironic humor, brilliant insights, and piercing observations. We meet a vast array of historical figures in a staggering novel of love, war, philosophy, and adventure . . . "There isn't a page of CREATION that doesn't inform and very few pages that do not delight."-- John Leonard, The New York Times
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Format: mass market paperback
ISBN:
9780345340207 (0345340205)
Publish date: January 12th 1982
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Pages no: 608
Edition language: English
I didn't realise that Gore Vidal was what is called a revisionist when it came to his historical novels, but it only makes me want to pick up more of his books because revisionists tend to give us an alternate view of history that differs from the history that is written by the winners. This book is...
Persian history at the peak of the Achaemenid Empire (5th century BCE) is pretty neatly summed up in a few lines from our high school world history courses, largely in connection with Greek history. We hear a few snippets about the Persian rulers, Cyrus, Darius, and Xerxes; a big paragraph about the...
I absolutely can't stand Vidal as a non-fiction writer and generally as a man of opinions or "letters" or what have you but this is the second novel of his I have read which I have thoroughly enjoyed. He appears to be doing two things with his revisionist history in this case: presenting an alterna...
need a re-read1/8/2012: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19074230