by Gore Vidal
First published 1974
Aaron Burr sits in his New York law office in 1833, an aging former vice president dictating his memoirs to a young clerk. The old man recounts his rise through Revolutionary War service to the heights of political power, his complex relationships with Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, and the fatal duel that destroyed his reputation. Burr reveals the backroom deals and personal rivalries that shaped the new republic, offering his own account of events that made him a pariah. As he speaks, Burr wrestles with his legacy and the price of ambition in a nation still defining itself.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, american, biographical-fiction, 19th-century, political-thriller, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-figure, unreliable-narrator
Setting: New York
Period: 1833, Revolutionary War
430 pages · Hardcover · William Heinemann