The Golden Age (Gore Vidal novel)

Infobox Book |
name = The Golden Age
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Gore Vidal
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series = Narratives of Empire
genre = Historical novel
publisher = Doubleday
release_date = September 2000
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 467 pp
isbn = ISBN 0-385-50075-0 (first edition, hardback)
preceded_by = Washington, D.C.
followed_by =

"The Golden Age", a historical novel published in 2000 by Gore Vidal, is the seventh and allegedly final novel in his "Narratives of Empire" series.

Plot introduction

The story begins in 1939 and features many of the characters that Gore Vidal introduced in his earlier novel, Washington, D.C. (novel). This includes the families of conservative Democratic Senator James Burden Day, and powerful newspaper publisher Blaise Sanford. It covers America's entry into World War II and the national politics of that time in some detail, and highlights of the post-war years, and then closes with a year-2000 retrospective.

Explanation of the novel's title

The title is more ironic than ambivalent, referring principally to hopes expressed by young Americans shortly after winning WWII.

Plot summary

The action centers around President Roosevelt's maneuvers to get the United States into World War II while keeping his 1940 campaign pledge to America voters that "No sons of yours will ever fight in a foreign war, unless attacked." Vidal makes the case that 1) the U.S had backed Japan into a corner with the oil and trade embargo, as well as massive aid to China and unconditional demands Japan could never accept; 2) the U.S. provoked Japan into attacking; and 3) the U.S. had broken Japan's military codes and knew of Japan's pending attack, but intentionally withheld warning Pearl Harbor. This was to arouse the U.S. populace and bring the United States into the war, so the U.S could take its place as the post-war dominant superpower.

Characters in "The Golden Age"

Historical characters:
William Randolph Hearst,
Franklin D. Roosevelt,
Eleanor Roosevelt,
Harry Hopkins,
Wendell L. Wilkie,
Herbert Hoover,
Harry Truman,
Thomas Pryor Gore, and Gore Vidal himself

Fictional characters: Caroline Sanford, Blaise Sanford, Peter Sanford, James Burden Day, Diana Day, Enid Sanford, Clay Overbury, and Emma Sandford

Major themes

Allusions/references to other works

Charles A. Beard, President Roosevelt and the Coming of War

George Orwell, Animal Farm

Robert B. Stinnett, Day of Deceit

Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science