Julian

Description

Gore Vidal's fictional recreation of the Roman Empire teetering on the crux of Christianity and ruled by an emperor who was an inveterate dabbler in arcane hocus-pocus, a prig, a bigot, and a dazzling and brilliant leader.

Gore Vidal is one of the greatest living American novelists and essayists. He has written numerous Hollywood screenplays, including BEN HUR, and ran as a Democratic candidate for Congress. He appeared with Tim Robbins in the film BOB ROBERTS.

"High entertainment." --"The New York Times Book Review " "A subtle, provoking, enthralling book. . . . Vidal's ability to invoke a world is amazing." --"The Christian Science Monitor ""Simply great. . . . A truly monumental novel." --"Associated Press ""Historical fiction in the true, honorable sense. . . . Full of vivid, richly wrought fictional detail." --"The Wall Street Journal ""Impressive. . . . To the formidable task which Vidal sets himself, he brings an easy and fluent gift for narrative; a theatrical sense of scene and dramatic occasion; and a revealing eye and ear for character delineation-to say nothing of wide reading." -"Newsweek " "A real hero. . . . An excellent book." -"Chicago Daily News " "Gore Vidal has the sharpest sense of what political power consists of, how it is achieved and what it does to a man. And at the same time he is funny, roaringly funny. . . . "Julian "is a brilliant beacon of light in the dim grey landscape of the historical novel." -Louis Auchincloss "A brilliant study of Julian's era. . . . That rare historical novel which enjoys all the virtues of good history and good fiction." -"Washington Star " "No odder figure ever guided the destinies of the Roman Empire than the Emperor Julian Augustus. Here was a recluse and a scholar who became a great military leader, an ascetic who preached the life of the senses, a fatalist who believed he would remake the world. . . . He is endlessly fascinating." -"Time" " "