The Golden Age

The final chronological volume of Narratives of Empire returns to the Sanford newspaper family, principally Caroline and her nephew Peter, as the United States moves from the uneasy peace of 1939 into the Second World War. Their access to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Washington allows Vidal to examine the arguments over intervention, the attack on Pearl Harbor and the political management of a global conflict. Journalism, intelligence, family loyalty and presidential strategy intersect as the country assumes a position of unprecedented international power.

After Roosevelt’s death, the narrative follows Harry S. Truman’s administration, the opening of the Cold War, the Korean War and the rise of Joseph McCarthy. A framing perspective from the year 2000 turns the novel into an inquiry about how history is written and who benefits from an accepted national story. The title’s apparent celebration is deliberately ambiguous: wartime victory and prosperity accompany secrecy, ideological fear and the consolidation of an American empire.