Gore Vidal, who died at the end of July 2012, is widely acknowledged as one of America's foremost novelists, essayists and screenwriters. But Vidal was also a terrific conversationalist; indeed Dick Cavett once described him as "the best talker since Oscar Wilde." Vidal was never more eloquent, or caustic, than when let loose on his favorite topic: the history and politics of the United States.

This book is made up from four interviews conducted with his long-time interlocutor, the writer and radio host Jon Wiener, in which Vidal grapples with matters evidently close to his heart: the history of the American Empire, the rise of the National Security State, and his own life in politics, both as a commentator and candidate.

The interviews cover a twenty-year span, from 1988 to 2008, when Vidal was at the height of his powers. His extraordinary facility for developing an argument, tracing connections between past and present, and drawing on an encyclopedic knowledge of America's place in the world, are all on full display. And, of course, it being Gore Vidal, an ample sprinkling of gloriously acerbic one-liners is also provided.