Super Short Summary

American author and public intellectual Gore Vidal’s memoir, Palimpsest (1995), covers the first four decades of his life, from his birth in 1925 into the 1960s. Vidal, born Eugene Louis Vidal, recounts his complex relationship with his mother, his grandfather’s influence in politics, his early literary career marked by controversy, his time in Hollywood, and his brief foray into politics, illustrating his life through personal anecdotes and encounters with prominent figures of the time. The book contains discussions about child abuse and sexuality.