We republish the article The decline and fall of the American Empire by Alan Woods to pay tribute to the prominent US writer and intellectual Gore Vidal who has died on July 31st, aged 86.
In his review of Gore Vidal's book Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace, Alan Woods pointed out that "Gore Vidal is a member of one of America's leading families - a patrician in background, upbringing and culture. His close personal acquaintance with America's ruling elite gives him a unique insight into the workings of the system, and he understands the hypocrisy that underlies this pretence, and the vicious, exploitative and aggressive character of US imperialism. He is one of those extremely rare animals - a bourgeois political commentator whose vision transcends the immediate and has a broad historical view of things."