Jay Parini's "Empire of Self" is an expertly crafted biography of Gore Vidal, the brilliant and combative essayist, novelist, and public intellectual whose fascinating life doubles as a history of 20th-century American culture. A novelist himself, Parini writes with perfect pacing. As a close friend of Vidal's, he's able to draw on decades of memories to complete his portrait of this complex man. You can read the Monitor's full review of "Empire of Self" here.
