The Smithsonian Institution by Gore Vidal
Good Friday, 1939, and T., a sixteen-year-old schoolboy, arrives at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington. The museum is closed, but T. manages to slip in, and it would appear that somehow, he is expected. An old man, Bentsen, shows him around, and T. realises that all is not as it seems. As he goes to examine a Native American exhibit, he is drawn magically into the nineteenth-century world of a reservation of Sioux Indians. They like what they see of T. and immediately get the pot boiling. T. is forced to take refuge in the tent of a young Squaw. They become lovers, and she helps him to escape back to the safety of the Smithsonian. Back with Bentsen, T. explores the Smithsonian further and begins to fathom the mysteries of time travel. The Smithsonian scientists have discovered how to get back to the past, but still don't know how to travel to the future. T. puts his brilliant mathematical brain to the problem. However, given a glimpse into the future, T. sees his own untimely death, and becomes determined to prevent the outbreak of WWII...
Falling somewhere between the realms of Henry Adams and all of Monty Python.. * Jay McInerny *
This is a jeu d'esprit, an iridescent bubble of a book * SUNDAY TIMES *
America's best living novelist * Allan Massie *
Vidal's combination of learning, wit and disdain gets into your blood. He can change the way you think - the only definition of a great writer which makes sense * OBSERVER *
With a fluidity of style matching an action that dances elegantly in time and space, Vidal's flesh-and-blood ghosts race the mind into a higher space. * Mail on Sunday *
Vidal cleverly satirises the hubris of American hegemony. * The Times *
This is a jeu d'esprit, an iridescent bubble of a book * SUNDAY TIMES *
America's best living novelist * Allan Massie *
Vidal's combination of learning, wit and disdain gets into your blood. He can change the way you think - the only definition of a great writer which makes sense * OBSERVER *
With a fluidity of style matching an action that dances elegantly in time and space, Vidal's flesh-and-blood ghosts race the mind into a higher space. * Mail on Sunday *
Vidal cleverly satirises the hubris of American hegemony. * The Times *
Gore Vidal was at the centre of literary and intellectual life for half a century and wrote 'The Narratives of a Golden Age' series as well as countless bestsellers. He died on 31st July 2012.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780349110721 |
| ISBN 10 | 0349110727 |
| Title | The Smithsonian Institution |
| Author | Gore Vidal |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Little, Brown Book Group |
| Year published | 1999-10-07 |
| Number of pages | 272 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |