WASHINGTON DC by Gore Vidal

 This is one of my ancient paperbacks that I first read and finished on Mo 4/24/95 and I skimmed to the end of the novel. 

This time I finished the book on We 11/9/2

The book covered some of the more turbulent eras in American history- 'The New Deal' & 'McCarthyism'. The reason that I didn't really love the book was the historical aspects were downplayed and the characters in the novel were given center stage. I would have liked to have more of the real history more prominently blended into the story.

Fun Fact: The Republicans tried to impeach FDR because they blamed him for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. I don't know if this is true. 

And very little of the actual events of  McCarthy's reign in congress is in the novel. 

I would read more books by Gore Vidal but I would vote for more history and less soap opera. 

 From the book's page at Amazon:

"Washington, D.C., is the final installment in Gore Vidal's Narratives of Empire,his acclaimed six-volume series of historical novels about the American past. It offers an illuminating portrait of our republic from the time of the New Deal to the McCar-thy era.

Widely regarded as Vidal's ultimate comment on how the American political system degrades those who participate in it, Washington, D.C. is a stunning tale of corruption and diseased ambitions. It traces the fortunes of James Burden Day, a powerful conservative senator who is eyeing the presidency; Clay Overbury, a pragmatic young congressional aide with political aspirations of his own; and Blaise Sanford, a ruthless newspaper tycoon who understands the importance of money and image in modern politics. With characteristic wit and insight, Vidal chronicles life in the nation's capital at a time when these men and others transformed America into "possibly the last empire on earth."

"Washington, D.C. may well be the finest of contemporary novels about the capital," said The New Yorker, and the Times Literary Supplement deemed it "a prodigiously skilled and clever performance."

A link to an excellent overview of the book at the New York Times archives:

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/01/home/vidal-washington.html