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Burr

(Narratives of Empire #1)

Gore Vidal

4.07 · Rating details · 8,729 ratings · 666 reviews

Gore Vidal's Narratives of Empire series spans the history of the United States from the Revolution to the post-World War II years. With their broad canvas and large cast of fictional and historical characters, the novels in this series present a panorama of the American political and imperial experience as interpreted by one of its most worldly, knowing, and ironic observ ...more

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Paperback, 430 pages

Published February 15th 2000 by Vintage (first published 1973)

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Jul 05, 2017 Jeffrey Keeten rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: revolutionary-war, historical-fiction, presidents-staff, politics

”In the half-light of the cemetery, Burr did resemble the devil--assuming that the devil is no more than five foot six (an inch shorter than I), slender, with tiny feet (hooves?), high forehead (in the fading light I imagine vestigial horns), bald in front with hair piled high on his head, powdered absently in the old style, and held in place with a shell comb. Behind him is a monument to the man he murdered.”

Aaron Burr

Aaron Burr is, without a doubt, one of the most fascinating figures in Am ...more

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Jul 20, 2014 Howard rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, reviewed, american-history, jefferson, auto-bio-fiction, jackson, politics, american-government

I once read that Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), the erstwhile presidential candidate, said that once upon a time she had been a Democrat, even working for the election of Jimmy Carter. However, while riding on a train one day, she experienced a political conversion while reading Gore Vidal’s novel, "Burr."

According to Rep. Bachmann, she became so upset with the way Vidal depicted our Founding Fathers – mocking them, she said – that she dropped the book onto her lap and said to herself, “I must b I once read that Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), the erstwhile presidential candidate, said that once upon a time she had been a Democrat, even working for the election of Jimmy Carter. However, while riding on a train one day, she experienced a political conversion while reading Gore Vidal’s novel, "Burr."

According to Rep. Bachmann, she became so upset with the way Vidal depicted our Founding Fathers – mocking them, she said – that she dropped the book onto her lap and said to herself, “I must be a Republican.”

I have owned two copies of that novel for years, and though I have read all of Vidal’s other historical novels, somehow I had never gotten around to reading this one. But after reading how it had exerted such a great impact on Rep. Bachmann’s life (and she didn't even finish the book!), I decided that I had to read it – and right away. After all, it might change my life, too.

And now I have read it.

If I had the opportunity to discuss the book with her, I would try to make the following points:

1). The author is the late Gore Vidal. He always went over the top in everything he said and everything he wrote, fiction or nonfiction. Always provocative, he was very much prone to exaggeration, even when his point was a valid one.

2). The book is written from the viewpoint of Aaron Burr. The man was a self-promoting scalawag. While he was vice-president of the United States, he shot and killed the very first secretary of the treasury, Alexander Hamilton, in a duel. President Thomas Jefferson later accused him of treason against the United States. He was prosecuted by the federal government, but was acquitted.

Since the book tells the story from Burr’s viewpoint and presents his version of these events, it should come as no surprise that it places him in the best possible light and Hamilton and Jefferson in the worst possible lights. (Vidal even admitted in the afterword that he had a higher opinion of Jefferson than Burr did, and a lower opinion of Andrew Jackson.)

3). The book is a work of fiction – not history.

I am sorry to report that after reading this book, I have experienced no political conversion, no epiphany, and have reached no life-altering conclusions. None. Not yet. ...more

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Mar 03, 2019 Paul Bryant rated it it was ok

Shelves: novels, abandoned

- Oh, Gore Vidal? I thought he was a hairdresser.

- No, that's Vidal Sassoon.

- That sounds wrong. Vidal Sassoon was a poet. I think he drove an ambulance and collected arms and legs.

- You're thinking of Siegfried Sassoon. Actually, I may have mixed him up with Wagner. Didn't he marry someone called Siegfried? Is that a woman's name in Germany? Doesn't sound like one.

- Oh yes, I remember now, Wagner was one of the top Nazis. He was the guy who parachuted into England to assassinate Churchill but ...more

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May 27, 2012 Bill rated it it was amazing

'Burr' is the lead novel in Gore Vidal's seven-book series on U.S. history. It's not the first book he wrote in the series, but in terms of historical chronology, everything begins right here. If you've never read Vidal, there are other places you might want to begin ('Julian' is a marvelous novel, as is 'Messiah.' You can't really go wrong with Gore.) But if you're a fan of history and turned off by textbook drudgery (and occasional misinformation), 'Burr' opens one writer's look at American hi ...more

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Dec 21, 2018 Dan rated it liked it

I enjoyed 'Julian' which was written by Vidal about the most consequential of the last Roman emperors. I wholeheartedly loved Vidal’s non-fiction compilation 'Essays on America' that won the Pulitzer and displayed the wit and precision of arguably the best essayist of our modern era. However I did not love 'Burr' the novel nearly as much.

'Burr', published in 1973, was a very popular historical fictional novel. Aaron Burr, the central character, was a minor revolutionary hero, first rate politic ...more

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Oct 07, 2017 Cinda rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, history, revwar, adult, biography

It's the first novel I've read by Gore Vidal; an enthralling alternative view for Hamilton fans. History is truly a network of stories told from different points of view. Great fun! ...more

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Nov 02, 2016 Ned rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Oh my, this was brilliant and entertaining. I needed to know about Aaron Burr and the history of our nation, and this was a riveting expose of the people, the petty politics, the smells and sins of our nation’s creators. It was also my first by Vidal, and will read many more if I have that much time. The plot was of the type that works well for me, a young man on a mysterious journey to uncover the enigmatic (and magnetic) statesman who was nearly president. Burr’s intellect and talent for gover Oh my, this was brilliant and entertaining. I needed to know about Aaron Burr and the history of our nation, and this was a riveting expose of the people, the petty politics, the smells and sins of our nation’s creators. It was also my first by Vidal, and will read many more if I have that much time. The plot was of the type that works well for me, a young man on a mysterious journey to uncover the enigmatic (and magnetic) statesman who was nearly president. Burr’s intellect and talent for governing were nearly unmatched, save his nemesis, Hamilton. The account of the plodding figurehead, Washington, the man who wanted to be king, was hilarious. The shifty Jefferson, the great hypocrite, who was a far greater politician than statesman, is laid bare.

Nearly all the characters are real, and scholarship is impressive. Many events seemed over the top and incredulous, yet when I googled them they were all true. Incredible that Vidal wrote this in 1973, well before Jefferson’s fatherhood of multiple children by Sarah Hemmings was well known. This book must have been absolutely scandalous for its time, and took great courage to write. This book changed my view of history, made it come alive in a way that history books rarely do. It may not- no it is not – “factual” yet like great literature seemed truer than those other accounts. Washington (and in fact the colonists) rarely won any direct conflicts in the revolutionary war (except those aided by the French). Here’s an account of the “military” (p. 54): “But difficult it was, always, for Washington to maintain an army. The rich tended to be pro-British, while the poor were not interested in whether or not American merchants paid taxes to a far-away island. The truth is that except for a handful of ambitious lawyers, there were very few “patriots” in 1775.” Heresy!

On Jefferson (p. 207): “It was Jefferson’s conceit that he alone represented democracy and that all the rest of us from Washington to Adams to Hamilton wanted to wear crowns and tax his cup of tea”. (p 209) “…Jefferson was so beautifully human, so eminently vague, so entirely dishonest but not in any meretricious way. Rather it was a passionate form of self delusion that rendered Jefferson as president and as man (not to mention as writer of tangled sentences and lunatic metaphors) confusing even to his admirers. Proclaiming the unalienable rights of man for everyone (excepting slaves, women, Indians and those entirely without property), Jefferson tried to seize the Floridas by force, dreamed of a conquest of Cuba…”. George Clinton referred to him (p. 289) as a “..Frenchified trimmer from that atheist from Virginia… Massa Tom”. His countrymen considered him cowardly, according to Burr reciting his memoirs, as (p. 297) “….like so many bookish men who have never been in battle, Jefferson enjoyed the threat of bloodshed”. Of course, this all from Burr’s account. Once in office (p. 305) “…the public is always relieved to find….once elected the officials do not really want change”. Does this sound familiar in 2016? Burr expounds loquaciously (p. 520) “Although Americans justify their self interest in moral terms, their true interest is never itself moral. Yet, paradoxically, only Americans- a few, that is- ever try to be moral in politics”.

I really, really enjoyed this. The New York riots of that time, the 5 points debauchery of whores, drink, organized crime, fiery abolitionists and Tammany hall was original and colorful. The story of a young journalist intent struggling with his moral duty as a reporter vs the love of his fatherly subject (Burr) worked beautifully as brilliant yet aging octogenarian unlayers his remarkable past and his many peccadillos come to light.

The finish is lovely, as the young reporter watches his idol become ill and fade away, along with his cronies, including the irascible Andrew Jackson, and a few surprises emerge. This was a most pleasurable way to read history. My only complaints is that this publisher (Bantam) produced a rather low-quality volume with numerous typos. But I've been carrying this around for many years, so it is near and dear.

Finally, a friend of mine, upon learning I was reading this, recounted his one story of Gore Vidal. Apparently he was visiting his midwest university as the featured guest. A student, showing up as part of a course obligation, was interrogated rather aggressively by an elderly gentleman regarding his views on the schedule speaker. They had a nice chat and then the emcee introduced the speaker who was... you guessed it... that very same elderly gentleman who scrambled to the podium.

...more

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Sep 15, 2012 Adam rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: usa, informative, living-history, historical-fiction

I knew next to nothing about US history when I began reading Gore Vidal's Burr. So, I was, and still am, in no position to assess the historical accuracy of the numerous events recorded in his fictional biography of Colonel Aaron Burr (1756-1836).

During the American Revolutionary War, Aaron Burr was involved in an expedition to attack the British forces in Quebec. Although this was not a success, it was during this campaign that Burr became known a military hero. He rubbed shoulders with George ...more

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Jun 06, 2017 Elizabeth (Alaska) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, late-20th-century, kindle

What I knew about Aaron Burr was that in a duel he shot and killed Alexander Hamilton, first Secretary of the Treasury and pictured on the $10 bill. That is a pitiful amount of knowledge and if I had ever been told more about Burr, it is in that part of the brain marked "irretrievable." For pete's sake, Elizabeth, Burr was Vice President of the United States. Further, the electoral votes in the 1800 election were tied between Jefferson and Burr and the election was decided by the House of Repres What I knew about Aaron Burr was that in a duel he shot and killed Alexander Hamilton, first Secretary of the Treasury and pictured on the $10 bill. That is a pitiful amount of knowledge and if I had ever been told more about Burr, it is in that part of the brain marked "irretrievable." For pete's sake, Elizabeth, Burr was Vice President of the United States. Further, the electoral votes in the 1800 election were tied between Jefferson and Burr and the election was decided by the House of Representatives. Burr is not just this obscure fellow about whom there is likely a trivia question.

There are two first person narrators: 1) Charlie Schuyler, the only fictional character in the novel, is a clerk in Burr's law office; and 2) Burr himself. Burr dictates his memoirs to Charlie, which begin in the Revolutionary War, carry us through the 1800 election and the duel, and for a few years after. They are dictated in the mid-1830s, long after Burr was a mover and shaker in US politics. Charlie also has a life and through him we get to see a bit of New York City of the period, and to a lesser extent, Washington DC (called Washington City).

Our introduction to Burr is on the day of his second marriage in 1833.

The astonishing day began when Colonel Burr came out of his office and asked me to accompany him to the City Hotel where he was to meet a friend. As usual, he was mysterious. He makes even a trip to the barber seem like a plot to overthrow the state. Walking down Broadway, he positively skipped at my side, no trace of the stroke that half paralyzed him three years ago.

I came to understand the plot reference. Politics is a dirty business and we should disabuse ourselves that it is dirtier now than then.

Burr definitely had a perspective not taught in schools - at least not when I was in school. For example, Burr thought Washington not an especially good general and that he had a big butt. He also did not think highly of Jefferson. Vidal himself, in the afterword, says All in all, I think rather more highly of Jefferson than Burr does; on the other hand, Burr’s passion for Jackson is not shared by me. Although the novel’s viewpoint must be Burr’s, the story told is history and not invention. I was glad to read this latter, that this is not invention.

Vidals' prose is quite readable, but I must admit this reads somewhere between fiction and nonfiction. Some of Burr's "memoirs" are dense and even tedious in parts. Politicians have such egos! Chronologically, this is the first in Vidal's Narratives of Empire series. This was interesting enough that I want to read the others, though I have no immediate plans to do so. For historical interest, this gets 4-stars, but for readability it is more like the top of my 3-star group, not quite crossing that 4-star threshold.

...more

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Feb 22, 2017 Christopher Saunders rated it really liked it

Shelves: friday-night-reads, 2020-reads, 2019-reads

In the first of his “Narratives of Empire” novels, Gore Vidal tackles Aaron Burr, the disgraced Vice President remembered for killing Alexander Hamilton and plotting to sever the western United States into an independent kingdom. He frames Burr’s story through a hoary narrative conceit, with hack journalist Charlie Schuyler (not, Vidal assures us, of the Hamilton-related Schuylers) befriending an antiquated Burr in 1830s New York, hoping to coax from him his life story. Namely, whether or not he In the first of his “Narratives of Empire” novels, Gore Vidal tackles Aaron Burr, the disgraced Vice President remembered for killing Alexander Hamilton and plotting to sever the western United States into an independent kingdom. He frames Burr’s story through a hoary narrative conceit, with hack journalist Charlie Schuyler (not, Vidal assures us, of the Hamilton-related Schuylers) befriending an antiquated Burr in 1830s New York, hoping to coax from him his life story. Namely, whether or not he’s the father of Martin Van Buren; whether Burr involved Andrew Jackson in his western adventure; whether he'll disclose the "despicable opinion" that triggered his duel with Hamilton; whether he can discredit even George Washington’s sainted reputation. He is, as one character remarks, “the sprightly skeleton in many a celebrated closet!” Vidal’s sympathy for scoundrels shows in his rich, compelling portrait of Burr, elevating him from "the villain in your history” to the dark antihero of the American Founding. This Burr is a brilliant, idealistic, intrinsically gifted, albeit amoral and overreaching operator, whose ambitions and survival instinct match the new Republic better than its platitudinous self-image. Vidal contrasts Burr’s amorality and scheming with scathing portraits of his peers, from Washington (an inept, priggish would-be dictator) to Hamilton (a striving near-sociopath who despises everyone, including Washington) and Thomas Jefferson (a horse-abusing, slave-owning Caesar posing as a republican). Much of this is arch, clever and funny (among other delights, there’s a riotously cruel caricature of Vidal’s arch-rival, William F. Buckley, tucked into a subplot); occasionally, the novel insightfully probes the verities of historical myth (per Vidal’s vivid contrast of the Revolution’s ennobling rhetoric with its squalid, inglorious reality), image making (how the achievements of Burr, Benedict Arnold and James Wilkinson are obliterated by their transgressions) and the raucousness of 19th Century politicking (one chapter recreates an Election Day riot in New York). At worst, it’s merely cynical, asserting that all politicians are self-promoting crooks and all pretenses of decency a charade - sophomoric “insights” unworthy of such a perceptive novelist. Vidal’s idea of irony is contrasting the honest wenching and drinking of his scabrous protagonists with the prudishness of others, unhelpfully implying that all America’s problems would be resolved if our statesmen just got laid more often. Like its protagonist, Burr is smart, cynical, wryly amusing…and, occasionally, too clever by half. ...more

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Dec 18, 2012 Jonfaith rated it really liked it

Recommended to Jonfaith by: Jeffrey Keeten

"Although Americans justify their self-interest in moral terms, their true interest is never itself moral. Yet, paradoxically, only Americans - a few, that is- ever try to be moral in politics."
-- Gore Vidal

Vidal takes full responsibility for his perjury. Okay he only admits to errors and anachronisms, but sides himself with Richard Nixon in the process. Burr is a wonderful tale, finding delight in skewering the reputations of the Founding Fathers and all the hypocrisy which didn't make its way ...more

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May 02, 2016 DeB MaRtEnS rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: i-remember-reading-this, historically-american-nonf-f, historical-fiction, american-core-identity

Another found, another to read again. At twenty-one, I would have been spellbound by the drama surrounding Burr, and romanticized the era, being Canadian. Now with greater background and considerably more years beneath me, Burr by Gore Vidal would be a much different experience.

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Dec 04, 2019 Joe Kraus rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction

Gore Vidal has long been a “name” whose work I didn’t really know. He seemed almost more famous for being famous than for any particular thing he’d written. So, when this one cropped up on sale, I figured I’d give it a shot.

As a concept, I love this book. A young man and partisan of Aaron Burr is hired to write a scandalous hit-job on Martin Van Buren by claiming that the Presidential candidate is actually the son of the disgraced old man. The result is a novel told back-and-forth between a pres Gore Vidal has long been a “name” whose work I didn’t really know. He seemed almost more famous for being famous than for any particular thing he’d written. So, when this one cropped up on sale, I figured I’d give it a shot.

As a concept, I love this book. A young man and partisan of Aaron Burr is hired to write a scandalous hit-job on Martin Van Buren by claiming that the Presidential candidate is actually the son of the disgraced old man. The result is a novel told back-and-forth between a present of Charlie Schuyler as he navigates the United States of the middle 1830s and a past of Burr’s life.

Burr’s voice, as Vidal gives it to us, is rich and ironic. He offers a view of American history that’s been buried by subsequent consensus, but that comes across as cutting and clever. His Alexander Hamilton isn’t the brilliant but flawed figure of musical fame, but rather an always conniving and striving upstart, jealous of Burr’s distinguished pedigree. (I hadn’t known it, but Burr was the grandson of the famous Jonathan “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Edwards as well as the son of the president of what would become Princeton.) His Thomas Jefferson isn’t the great, deistic sage we know, but rather a serial promise-breaker, a master politician, and a man capable of switching his philosophy as necessary.

The Burr we hear is a voice of dissent who lives long enough to be among the last major participants in the Revolutionary moment. He comes to us as a curmudgeon, a scoundrel even, but an unapologetic one.

At the same time, it’s hard to imagine anyone writing this book today. Forty-five years later, most of the references that seem essential to understanding it have simply fallen out of common knowledge. I found myself checking and re-checking Wikipedia for reminders of just who a whole host of secondary characters are. I remember Henry Clay and John Calhoun. But William Wirt? Samuel Swartwout? Some of these are colorful scoundrels in their own right, characters who must once have been near household names and who helped define American history. Today, well, they’re hyperlinks.

I enjoy the history lesson – that’s much of what kept me in this – but it’s striking to think that Vidal must have been writing for an audience (perhaps imaginary even then) sufficiently saturated in American history to recognize the nature of the revisionism he was exploring. In other words, he had faith there were enough “patriots” (in his Burr’s ironic sense of the word) to follow his fundamental claim.

As a consequence, there’s an airy elitism that pervades this, some of it Burr’s and some of it Vidal’s – himself the scion of a distinguished American family that history may have left behind. Vidal turns out to be every bit the master aphorist I’d heard he was. I didn’t write down any of the great one-liners he pulls off, but there are many turns of phrase that I wish I’d been clever enough to think of. Even so, that contributes to the sense that this is something that’s condescending to me, and to most of us reading it. We’re some of Jefferson’s great unwashed, products not of the openly cynical opportunism of Burr (who narrowly escaped execution as a traitor hoping to establish himself emperor of a region comprised of several of what are now some of our Southern states) but of the subtler hypocrisy of Jefferson and his “Virginia junto.”

There’s much to enjoy here if you’re willing to double-check the history against Burr/Vidal’s version. It can drag in places since it takes a while to find Charlie’s story, but it’s a lot of fun too. I understand Vidal wrote a loose series of these histories, books that challenge our received version of the events that shaped who we are as a nation. I won’t rush onto the next, but I’ll be on the lookout for it sometime down the road.
...more

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Jul 30, 2012 Michael rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, new-york-city, american-revolution, fiction, historical-fiction

A great read for rendering a satirical and jaundiced view of the Founding Fathers, with a focus on Washington, Hamilton, and Jefferson. Vidal portrays Burr in third person from the perspective of an invented biographer interviewing his subject as an old man in the 1830's while inserting many long sections in first person from fictional memoirs. We get a nice account of Burr's role in Benedict Arnold's heroic Revolutionary War assault on Quebec City and fuel for a cynical vision of Washington as A great read for rendering a satirical and jaundiced view of the Founding Fathers, with a focus on Washington, Hamilton, and Jefferson. Vidal portrays Burr in third person from the perspective of an invented biographer interviewing his subject as an old man in the 1830's while inserting many long sections in first person from fictional memoirs. We get a nice account of Burr's role in Benedict Arnold's heroic Revolutionary War assault on Quebec City and fuel for a cynical vision of Washington as a poor general and crafty politician.

In his law career and political climb in New York State politics, he intersects a lot with Hamilton, whom he respects but slowly comes into conflict with along Federalist vs. Republican political lines. Burr's ability to harness the Tammany Hall political machine helps him almost win the Presidential election, ending up as Vice President with Jefferson. He detests Jefferson for his vanity and duplicity and for pretending to be anti-imperialist and humanistic while working on the one hand toward the goal of acquiring much of North America for the Republic and fathering many children with his female slaves.

The famous duel in which Burr kills Hamilton is not given much focus in this self serving account, although he makes sure to play up his courage in standing up to the smearing of his reputation in the aftermath.

The novel's coverage of Burr's involvement in a harebrained attempt to take Mexico away from Spain was fascinating. The scheme was stopped at an early stage by Jefferson, who believed it to be part of a larger treasonous plot to lead the western states to secede from the union (which ironically was a state's right in his anti-Federalist view). The trial of Burr and associates for treason was a nice high point of the book, as the interplay between Jefferson's prosecution and the Supreme Court Justice Marshall set many precedents about executive privilege and the independence of branches of the government.

Vidal breathes life into history by portraying a plausible version of dialog, thought, and motivation; that he goes 'over the top' and leans toward a cynical viewpoint does not detract from being entertained by his imagination and educated away from simplistic heroic views of our history. ...more

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Apr 14, 2009 Christopher Carbone rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: anyone who likes the villian

There has been no greater shadow in American History, no greater enigma than the US's 3rd Vice President, almost President, and near King of Louisiana, Aaron Burr. Mostly known for killing Fmr. Treasury Secretary and opposition party leader, Alexander Hamilton, Burr is also known, less so, for invading Louisiana shortly after it was purchased by the US, getting caught, tried for treason and beating every charge easily.

This ficticious look at Burr's history is a dramatic telling of the absurdity ...more

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Jul 10, 2008 Sam rated it it was amazing

Re-reading actually. I loved this tale of our hapless 2nd Vice President so much I named my youngest son after him. I love Gore Vidal's writing and have read so many of his wonderful historical novels, bursting with history and personality. Possibly my all time favorite writer, though he has only written one scifi story.

I admire Aaron Burr more and more as I see how the insanity that is American politics continues to appall and astound. But it reminds me also of just how flawed and human were ou ...more

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Sep 15, 2020 Lynn marked it as didn-t-finish · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

So boring it puts me to sleep every time I try to read it. I’m done.

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May 30, 2011 Perry Whitford rated it really liked it

Aaron Burr is perhaps the most contentious of all American politicians. A contemporary of the founding fathers and a mover and shaker in the first years of the union, his name is now a byword for betrayal and devilry due to killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel and being brought to trial for suspected treason.

Who better than to re-tell history with Burr as the hero but Gore Vidal?

This is the fifth of the seven Narratives of Empire series that I have read and the first in the series chronologica Aaron Burr is perhaps the most contentious of all American politicians. A contemporary of the founding fathers and a mover and shaker in the first years of the union, his name is now a byword for betrayal and devilry due to killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel and being brought to trial for suspected treason.

Who better than to re-tell history with Burr as the hero but Gore Vidal?

This is the fifth of the seven Narratives of Empire series that I have read and the first in the series chronologically, covering the period 1775 - 1840.

Burr dictates his memoirs to a would be biographer, Charles Schuyler, a fictional character. The memoirs are framed by the events of both of their lives in the mid 1830's, the final years of Burr's life, and a time of transition and revelation for Schuyler (who was to return in a later book of the series, 1876).

We get to see a Washington who couldn't fight his way out of a pair of leggings and whose chief character traits are dullness and vanity; a Jefferson who is endlessly mendacious and completely without principle; and a Hamilton who is sparkling but reckless, at every turn the architect of his own downfall.

Against these titans - the reputations of whom history has decided to honour - we see a Burr who is eminently more noble and trustworthy than all three, but who becomes manipulated into infamy by the Virginian junto that ruled the time.

This is not only the way Burr tells it in his memoirs either, Vidal has a substantial number of supporting testimonies from his contemporaries to back him up.

As this is a Gore Vidal book, 500+ plus pages can glide smoothly by without once becoming bogged down. All the characters can converse glibly in the cleverest of aphorisms, epigrams and paradoxes, all laced with the sweetest or bitterest of ironies.

But what really floats Vidal's boat is debunking the accepted versions of history. The below example, about Washington, is typical of this tendency, and something of a manifesto:
"Ultimately, I think, he must be judged as an excellent politician who had no gift for warfare. History, as usual, has got it all backward."

I will make sure I read the last two books in the series by the end of this year. The next one, Washington D.C. (which was actually the first one written) I believe sticks it to F.D.R. ...more

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Jan 19, 2009 Marin rated it it was ok

I'm trying. I really am. My brother and SIL really loved this book, but I'm finding it irritating.

In all fairness, I'm stuck about 50 pages in and reluctant to continue.

I don't like any of the characters, and when that's the case, it's hard for me to like a book (or movie or play). I have to have someone to root for. The clerk/narrator is stupid and superfluous. Everybody is smug and droll to the point of Oscar Wilde.

Now, there are memoir portions of the book in which Aaron Burr relates, via let ...more

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Mar 01, 2020 John Hatley rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is a very good "historical novel" (fiction based on fact) about a less-known figure in American history. From 1801 to 1805, Aaron Burr was Thomas Jefferson's vice-president. Burr is one of a series of novels written by Gore Vidal with a background in American history. ...more

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Apr 10, 2011 Tracie rated it liked it

I started to re-read Lincoln, then Sarah pointed out that Burr is actually the first book in the American Chronicle series, and it makes sense to read them in order, so let's read this instead.

I didn't like this anywhere near as much as I liked Lincoln, but it's still enjoyable, and Burr's a great character. But that's part of the problem, he seemed the whole time a lot more like a character in a novel to me than an actual historical figure. The fictional first person narrator annoyed me a lot, ...more

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Jan 31, 2019 Henry rated it really liked it

Did you know that George Washington lost most of his battles as a General...or that he had a big butt? These background asides make Vidal's "Burr" a fascinating read. Recommended! ...more

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Dec 25, 2020 Larry Bassett rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, kindle, historical-fiction

I am slightly surprised to find how long it took me to actually get through this audible book which I supplemented by also following along with the Kindle version. I started out thinking this Book was going to be a superb five star effort but as it went on and on I began to think it was of a somewhat repetitious three star overstatement. Thus I come to the four-star conclusion at the top of the page!

I have left some notes and comments that predominate in the first half of the book. The author po ...more

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Mar 08, 2010 Andrewh rated it really liked it

This is the first of Vidal's Narratives of Empire (though the second one he wrote in the series) and is the most enjoyable and scurrilous of all (though I've not yet read the follow-up 1876). Aaron Burr was a war hero, a Vice-President, and, infamously, killed Hamilton in a duel. He is here presented as an irresistible rogue, a gambler, brilliant lawyer, ladies man, and military genius, who was tried for treason for allegedly wanting to split off the Western states from the Union. All this is bu ...more

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Jan 11, 2010 Rosina Lippi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Vidal (one of the great minds of our age) is a master of historical fiction. This novel brings the early 19th century to life, and provides a sober yet amusing perspective on the famous and the modest alike.

Burr was not an especially nice person, but he had the charm that can ease a meglomaniac's way. Really this novel is worth studying if you're writing yourself, for Vidal's truly unique style and his unparalleled under-painting. ...more

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Jun 10, 2018 Gbug rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: farmington-library, bookstock

I wish I liked this more. I loved Gore Vidal's Lincoln. This is not as compelling a subject. It is still not clear to me what caused the duel with Hamilton. Gossip? What is clear politics today is not different from that of founding fathers. News and fake news just travel faster. ...more

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Apr 04, 2014 Nooilforpacifists rated it it was amazing

Shelves: modern-american-fiction

One of the most enjoyable historical novels ever written. None of his other works, especially his "American series" (1876, Lincoln, etc.) measure up. Its genius is a historical inversion: the hero: Aaron Burr; the villain: Thomas Jefferson. Most who didn't go to the University of Virginia should be honest enough to admit that Vidal has caught the dark side of Jefferson--the starry-eyed philosophy that contrasted with the ruthless conduct of his politics. And, Vidal devises a plausible reason for ...more

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Jun 20, 2008 Jeffrey rated it it was amazing

Shelves: history-historical

Vidal. That name says it all. Hey, I'm a poet? Geesssh! I loved him years ago when I read him. Think my father was reading this one, and like a lot of my early picks, I read it too. Also, read lots of my sisters books. They were a great help in getting my love for books going. But back to the books, the man . . . Want to learn about history in an interesting way? Read him! ...more

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Aug 22, 2017 Quo rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: Readers interested in the American Revolution &/or the Hamilton/Burr controversy...

Shelves: reviewed, american-history, political-struggle

Near the beginning of Burr by Gore Vidal, Aaron Burr is narrating his life & times to Charles Schuyler & suggests that he "has a lingering desire to tell the true story of the Revolution before it is too late." Beyond that & while speaking of himself, Burr declares: "he is a labyrinth". Most are familiar with "The Duel" that had Aaron Burr strike down Alexander Hamilton with whom he'd had a long-running feud, establishing Burr as an arch-villain within the shadows of American history but the est Near the beginning of Burr by Gore Vidal, Aaron Burr is narrating his life & times to Charles Schuyler & suggests that he "has a lingering desire to tell the true story of the Revolution before it is too late." Beyond that & while speaking of himself, Burr declares: "he is a labyrinth". Most are familiar with "The Duel" that had Aaron Burr strike down Alexander Hamilton with whom he'd had a long-running feud, establishing Burr as an arch-villain within the shadows of American history but the esteemed novelist, Gore Vidal (born: Eugene Luther Vidal, Jr.), seeks to tell the story of the Burr/Hamilton discord from Aaron Burr's point of view & does so admirably in this novel. From the beginning, it seems clear that the author researched the characters & this period of American History quite vigorously in devising something of a hybrid historical novel, most certainly not just an exercise in fiction.

Burr is normally cast as a malevolent, sinister character overshadowed by the splendidly cerebral Hamilton, a man who coauthored The Federalist Papers and established America's banking system but in fact Burr had graduated from Princeton (originally The College of New Jersey), where his father had been president of the university & had a fairly distinguished record in the American War of Revolution, though with an exceedingly negative view of George Washington & everyone else he encountered in the military conflict and in life at large. Having read an autobiography of Gore Vidal, I sensed more than a few similar characteristics shared by Vidal & Burr. However, what came as a surprise was the many similarities between Burr & Hamilton, who at various points in their respective lives admired each other. But at another point it is declared that Burr recalls his 1st meeting with Hamilton, indicating that "they were like brothers, if the brothers were Cain & Abel."

It is alleged that the great rivalry began when Aaron Burr & Alexander Hamilton were young lawyers, handling opposing sides in a famous case:

Burr's rivalry with Hamilton began in those days. It was inevitable. Both were heroes, both were ambitious, both were lawyers. Of the two, Hamilton was considered to be more profound philosophically as well as more long-winded but with a tendency to undo his own brief by taking it past the point of advocacy. Burr was more effective in court because his mind was swifter & he never moralized unless to demonstrate a paradox. Yet juries are often grateful to a lawyer for not preaching at them. Neither Burr nor Hamilton were natural orators like Clay or Webster. They could not move multitudes; on the other hand they were both effective with juries & with their peers. And despite their rivalry, Burr & Hamilton sometimes worked together.

Beyond that, there is a rather humorous account of Chas. Schuyler doing some background work on the licentious life of Aaron Burr both in the U.S. & while living abroad, learning that both Burr & Hamilton had visited the same brothel, one run by a Mrs. Townsend who reads Bunyan's Pilgrims Progress and philosophy books during slow moments at the bordello. It is noted that, when a younger "working girl", she had personally serviced both Burr & Hamilton. And it should also be mentioned that Mr. Schuyler, who has been enlisted by Burr to help author his autobiography and thus "preside over the rehabilitation of a man slandered by both Hamilton & Jefferson" is himself a patron of Mrs. Townsend's house of "soiled doves". Schuyler, young & impressionable, is rather in awe of Aaron Burr & calls him "Colonel", though after a recent stroke and seemingly impoverished, senses that Burr's mind is slipping. Curiously, as Burr details his own life to Schuyler, Mr. Burr is reading & annotating his copy of the Life of Alexander Hamilton, with the old rivalry very much on his mind. As I read Gore Vidal's novel, on more than one occasion I thought of the relationship between Mozart & Salieri, as related by Salieri in the film, Amadeus.

There are twists aplenty in the Gore Vidal novel, including the suggestion that at one point, Burr's amanuensis Schuyler is enlisted for $500 to prove that Burr is the father of Martin Van Buren. Perhaps, what I most enjoyed is the author's excellent portrayal of the political dynamics of this early phase of American History, including the inception of the Democratic Party, gradually replacing the Federalists of Hamilton & Adams. Burr is pitted against Jefferson, Monroe against Washington in the beginning of the political factionalism that George Washington had hoped the nation could avoid. Here is an analysis of changing political relationships:

Van Buren will be nominated & he will defeat Clay or any other National Republican--no, no, Whig, I must get used to calling them that. How topsy-turvy it all is! Those of us who were for the Revolution were Whigs. Those for Britain were Tories. Then there was the fight over the federal Constitution. Governor Clinton wanted a weak federal government. So, some of the Whigs became anti-Federalists & some like Hamilton became Federalist. Then the Tory-Federalists became Republican. Now, Tory-Federalist Republicans call themselves Whig though they are anti-Whig while the anti-Federalist Republicans are now Jacksonian Democrats. Oh, names are magic here!

There is even a discussion of the freedom of the press that seems rather contemporary, with the issue raised of "false facts" vs. "true lies". And there is considerable plotting about which territories will eventually become part of the United States and the suggestion that Aaron Burr was an instigator of various unsanctioned alliances with other countries, seeking to become the emperor of some future realm of his own devising.

However, Burr is given an opportunity by Vidal for a rebuttal: "Whatever my ambitions, none ever involved the cancellation of a legal election or the overthrow of the Constitution. It is curious that Hamilton (who was capable of any illegality) should have attached so securely to me the unlikely epithet of "embryo Caesar." I suspect that when Hamilton looked at me, he saw, in some magical way, himself reflected. Best of all to smash the glass & free the self therein--to range at will." Ultimately, it is alleged that what Hamilton said to provoke the duel was that Aaron Burr had had an incestuous relationship with Burr's daughter Theodosia. That said, the noxious legacy of settling differences with a duel enjoyed a long history, with Burr having been involved in a previous duel and Hamilton's oldest son having been killed in one.

Gore Vidal's Burr represents a thoroughly enjoyable & interesting novel and I look forward to reading another of the author's historically-rooted tales. A minor distraction was Vidal's use of some rather archaic words where a glossary might have been helpful. Also, the Jay Parini biography, Empire of Self: A Life of Gore Vidal with multiple photos from the author's life, is quite worth reading. Also, there is an excellent segment on the Burr/Hamilton duel & what caused it within Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis. ...more

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Jan 24, 2017 Jenni V. rated it really liked it

Shelves: i-own, recommended-to-me

This book was highly recommended by my dad as something he's read "cover to cover multiple times". So I went into it both looking forward to reading the book and also getting to see another side of my dad. He's passed books on to me before but there's something special about reading a book that someone you love loves and imagining their take on it and what exactly makes them react so strongly to it.

Okay, putting my psychology degree away for the rest of the review before I get completely off tra This book was highly recommended by my dad as something he's read "cover to cover multiple times". So I went into it both looking forward to reading the book and also getting to see another side of my dad. He's passed books on to me before but there's something special about reading a book that someone you love loves and imagining their take on it and what exactly makes them react so strongly to it.

Okay, putting my psychology degree away for the rest of the review before I get completely off track...

It was a little slow for me at the beginning but once it got into Burr's recollections it really picked up. I'd never heard the main rumor for the premise of this book, that Aaron Burr secretly fathered Martin Van Buren.

I'm always surprised when an author reminds me that historical figures (the Founding Fathers in this case) are not the perfect, loyal people they've been portrayed as in our textbooks. Of course they're human and can be petty and would be upset if passed over for a promotion they felt they'd earned.

The sentence, "This insensitivity to other people's religion and customs has been a constant in the affairs of the republic and the author of much trouble...", applied back then and unfortunately continues to apply today.

I also learned a new word for snowbanks -- "snow-bitches" (thought to be derived from beaches/bitches made of snow).

Overall, this is probably not a book I would've picked up without the recommendation but I'm glad I read it and plan to continue the author's "Narratives of Empire" series (In order of course, even though the author said they don't have to be read that way...I'm not a monster).

A Few Quotes from the Book
"It has been my fate to be the centre of a thousand inventions, mostly of a disagreeable nature. I never deny these stories. People believe what they want to believe. Yet I do think that my name has in some mysterious way been filched from me and used to describe a character in some interminable three-volume novel of fantastic adventure, the work of a deranged author whose imagination never sleeps - although this reader does when he reads for the thousandth time how the hellish Aaron Burr meant single-handedly to disband the United States when a voyage to the moon would have been simpler to achieve, and a good deal more interesting."

"Curious to think that we would almost certainly have been friends had we not been two young "heroes" at the beginning of a new nation, each aware that at the summit there is a place for only one. As it turned out, neither of us was to reach the highest place. I hurled Hamilton from the mountain-side, and myself fell."

"I know the effect a good lawyer can make on a jury. The sun at noon can become the moon at midnight if Colonel Burr has decided that such a replacement is in the interest of his client."

"It was about this time that I learned exactly what it was that Hamilton had said of me, and knew that this world was far too narrow a place to contain the two of us."

Find all my reviews at: http://readingatrandom.blogspot.com ...more

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About Gore Vidal

Gore Vidal

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Eugene Luther Gore Vidal was an American writer known for his essays, novels, screenplays, and Broadway plays. He was also known for his patrician manner, Transatlantic accent, and witty aphorisms. Vidal came from a distinguished political lineage; his grandfather was the senator Thomas Gore, and he later became a relation (through marriage) to Jacqueline Kennedy.

Vidal ran for political office twi ...more