Thanks to the broadcast media, which continually gives public platform to the curmudgeonly wit and iconoclastic political observations of Gore Vidal, he has become one of those rare authors who is as famous for what he says as for what he writes. Considered to be one of the most promising members of the generation of writers emerging from World War II (a group which included his arch-rival and eventual sparring partner, Norman Mailer), Vidal first made his mark with a fairly well received novel based on his army experiences, Williwaw, in 1946, then followed up with two more books, the second of which, The City and the Pillar (1948), stirred waves of controversy because of its frank treatment of homosexuality. "Not until that third book," Vidal has recalled, "did I begin to get bored with playing safe." Ever since, "playing safe" is a charge which has...