Burr: A Novel

First of all, I'm going to say that if you didn't like *Burr*, you doubtless have a POLITICAL difference with Mr. Vidal, which is fine, but criticizing the prose as confusing or bad is, I'm sorry, incorrect. In fact, this novel is a scintillating read -- the style is caustic, very funny, and indisputably intelligent. Get a sense of humor. But of course bashing liberals has recently passed up the moribund game of baseball as the nation's favorite pastime . . . especially liberals like Vidal who are -- generally speaking, natch -- smarter than their critiquers. Essentially what I'm saying is -- a guy who used to make short work of William F. Buckley and the ridiculous Norman Mailer on a routine basis on national TV probably knows more than you do.*Burr* is a brilliant historical recreation, in some ways even better than Vidal's masterpiece *Lincoln*. The author set himself to a daunting task -- tackling two distinct historical periods in our early history. He invents a young journalist, Charlie Schuyler, who works in the aged Burr's office in the 1830's, as well as creating a journal for the infamous Veep, containing notes on the Revolution and the founding of our political life. The book is roughly divided in half between these two voices. The miracle is that Vidal makes each narrator distinct -- as distinct as the two time periods presented. Burr's voice is suave and cutting; Charlie's is mocking and, at times, painfully honest. As a writer, I admire what Vidal pulled off here.I'm not sure which partisan-skewed texts the bashers of this book are reading to lead them to state that Vidal got his history wrong, but -- sorry -- he didn't. Folks, he got it all pretty much correct. Vidal even uses his famous characters' actual speeches whenever feasible within his narrative -- I should know, I STUDIED these guys while earning my masters in American History. When Vidal pulled out an actual quote attributed to Jefferson or Hamilton, it brought me a flash of recognition. I suppose when a guy like Vidal commences deconstructing our plaster saints, people are bound to get upset. I mean, here's fair warning: if the notion that our "Framers" being dang-near perfect patriots and above reproach is somehow desperately important to you, then you will despise this book.But if you want to educate yourself in the funniest, least painful way about our early history and the men who made it, read *Burr*. It is a masterpiece of historical invention, and it's SMART.

I read "Burr" first out of Gore Vidal's historical novels, and was very glad I did. Having been a fan of Vidal ever since reading his "United States: Collected Essays, 1952-1992," I eagerly awaited an acidic, satirical take on the glorious creation myths of the USA. I got what I expected, but a great deal more. The friendship between Hamilton and Burr (and Burr and the Alcibiadean James Wilkinson) generates a great deal of pathos, and makes the famous duel (memorably commented on by Burr as a pastime popular culture thinks entered the United States due to his killing Hamilton) a great deal more tragic than even calcified American history textbooks imply (albeit for different reasons). The writing frequently grabs attention, especially the expedition to Quebec in 1775. The general impression is of these two geniuses, for whom the highest ideal is service to a brand new country, being manipulated and betrayed by their de facto political "masters," Washington and Jefferson. The asides in 1830s New York are equally fascinating, as Charlie Schuyler (to reappear in LINCOLN and 1876) maneuvers the minefield of Jacksonian politics to discover the real story, already beginning to accumulate the dust of idolatry. This is easily one of the best historical novels ever written.

For years I've enjoyed Gore Vidal's essays. Nobody alive shows more mastery over this most vital of literary forms. Although I have read an occasional Vidal novel I've tended to give his fiction short shrift. After reading Burr, it's clear I have some catching up to do. I read Lincoln independently, but now that I've devoured Burr with mounting excitement, I've decided to read his entire historical cycle in sequence.I don't quite see how Vidal is going to top Burr, for in his choice of protagonist he found a worthy successor to Milton's Satan in Paradise Lost. Before reading this novel, I only knew that Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel, and that he served as Jefferson's Vice President. But set firmly in his time, and seen through the eyes of Charley Schuyler, Burr acquires a wonderful depth. By the time this novel was drawing to a close, I was reading it as slowly as I dared, reluctant to give up its pleasures. In my lust for fiction, I must say this doesn't happen very often.

I hardly ever read a book twice. Vidal's Burr is a book I have read and reread perhaps six full times since about 1980. This is a historical tale , compellingly told. Vidal's writing is wicked, ironic, sarcastic, and always brilliant. For me, he really brought this much maligned figure to life. I felt he "got inside the skin" of his principal character (actually characters since there is Aaron Burr and also a younger narrator Charlie Schyler). Burr deserves to be remembered, if only as a case study of how "the public" and political process in this country can label and unfairly demonize someone. Burr happened to win the duel with Hamilton and was persecuted and demonized from that day forward. I also think it important for readers to remember that Jefferson viciously persecuted Burr and attempted to get him executed for treason in the early 1800s. Jefferson definitely did not "play fair" in attempting to manipulate the trial from behind the scenes, withholding key evidence, etcetera. As a lawyer, I found Jefferson's underhandedness to be despicable and perhaps illegal. Jefferson comes off as a duplicitous, canting, hypocrite in the book as a result of this episode and I think rightfully so, for all of Jefferson's greatness. Vidal's book prompted me to further readings in this time period, including a reading of the original transcript of the treason trial which I read in a law library archive while a law student almost fifteen years ago! Excellent book. I can't recommend it enough