Hi Miriam,
Your description of this book brought me back to my undergraduate college
days. I was taking a course in American Foreign Policy taught by a prof
whose views matched those of many on this list. I was a bit left of center
back then. She was the first in my experience who contended that FDR knew
Pearl Harbor was coming. At the time, I still believed that Pearl Harbor was
a sneak attack. It took me at least 10 years to come to my senses. This prof
assigned reading that really made you think and was in many respects,
counter to what I learned in high school history. I'd say that was the seed
planted that helped me to be more skeptical of what our government tells us.
Also, as part of that history course, we had to write an essay on the
following:
"Do you agree or disagree with Harry Truman's use of nuclear weapons at the
end of World war II? Why or why not?
Like a good little American dooby, I parroted the junk about how we would
save one million lives and that Japan deserved the nuclear attack after
their sneak attack upon Pearl Harbor. After a few of her classes, I hung
around after class to have mini debates with this proff. Although it didn't
happen right away, I give her credit for opening my mind and making me a
more critical thinker.
Bob Hachey
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Subject: [blind-democracy] The golden age: a novel DB51122
The golden age: a novel DB51122
Vidal, Gore. Reading time: 19 hours, 33 minutes.
Read by Jim Zeiger.
Political Fiction
Fictional coverage of the American cultural and political scene from 1939,
when the U.S. debated entering World War II, until 1954 after the Korean
War. Caroline Sanford, producer-actress and Washington newspaper publisher,
and her journalist nephew provide insider views on Franklin Delano
Roosevelt's and Harry Truman's terms of office. Bestseller. 2000.
I learned about this book when reading an essay about the Japanese attack on
Pearl Harbor on a website called World Without War. Over many years, from
various books and articles, I'd begun to understand that the attack on Pearl
Harbor was not a surprise to the President. The essay which I read several
months ago, said that the story of what happened, could be found in the
book, The Golden Age. Of course, I'd come across the name, Gore Vidal, over
the years, but I'd never read one of his books. So I was happy to find this
book waiting for me on BARD. It is interesting from many points of view.
First of all, this is real history, written by the author who was part of
the scene, who observed it as it was happening. It is fiction, in that the
story is told from the viewpoints of two main characters, who are fictional,
and because dialogue is attributed to all of the characters in the book,
whether fictional or real. But there are a lot of real people in the book,
almost all of whom I remember, or whose names I've read about or heard
about. Additionally, the important events which take place are real. All of
you have read about them. The author is, himself, a minor character in the
book. He was a young man, moving in the world he describes, among the people
he describes. The book includes descriptions of how important policy
decisions were made and some of these may be unfamiliar to you, and may
cause you discomfort. But given the fact that some of the other less
publicized facts mentioned in the book are generally known to be true, I
think that the author is describing what actually happened. In a note at the
end of the book, he reassures the reader that this is so. This book was
written in 2000 so on one level, it is innocent because the attacks on the
World Trade Center and the Pentagon had not yet taken place. Yet, it is
amazingly prescient. Vidal foretells what is coming in terms of our state
of permanent war and the unlimited spying of our security state. As I read
this book, I kept thinking about the book, Citizens of London, that we
recently discussed on this list. That book glamourized the people who so
much wanted the US to join the war in order to save England and fight
against Fascism. The Golden Age describes the tug of war that was going on
in America over our involvement in another war. It makes clear, the various
points of view on the subject held by different constituencies and on how
the politicians responded to these pressures. There's something else that
became obvious to me while reading this book. There is a wide held belief
now that politicians ought to be responsible to the people who elect them
and that if they do not serve our interests, we should replace them. That
means that either we should find other politicians, or we, ourselves, should
run for office.People in contemporary society didn't like the idea of the
Presidency being passed on from one family member to another, e.g. the Bush
family, the Clinton family. In the past, this was acceptable, e.g. the Taft
family, the Roosevelt family.
Back in the 30's and 40's, the people who governed the country, really were
recognized by the people as being a ruling class. They were mostly people
who had had money in their families for generations, had gone to private
schools and ivy league colleges, and were truly highly educated. And, the
people who held political office were, invariably, white men. The Golden Age
chronicles the beginning of the changes to this status quo. But it is
written from the point of view of people who were members of what we now
call, "the ruling class". A lot of things are very different now, including
the kinds of people who inhabit the ruling class. What hasn't changed, is
the enormous and often secretive power of government to influence and
manipulate our lives.
Miriam