Gore Vidal, 1998

Gore Vidal, in conversation on March 11, 1998 with Richard Wolinsky and Richard A Lupoff.

Gore Vidal, who died in 2012 at the age of 86, was known for many things: a novelist, an essayist, a political pundit, screenwriter, playwright, actor and historian. Richard Wolinsky first had a chance to interview him in 1990 when he came to Berkeley to participate in a Pacifica Foundation event. That interview can be found as a Radio Wolinsky podcast.

The second interview, on March 11, 1998, occurred while Gore Vidal was publicizing his latest novel at the time, a comic science fiction fantasy novel, The Smithsonian Institution. The interview conducted by co-hosts Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff, was focused first on the book, and then on the politics of the time, including the demonization of the Clintons over health care, and then on Gore Vidal’s own history as a social critic. The interview has not been heard since its original broadcast nearly two decades ago.

Digitized and re-edited in 2017 by Richard Wolinsky. A shorter version of this interview aired on KPFA as an Arts-Waves program. There were two more interviews, another co-hosted with Richard A. Lupoff in 2000, and a final solo interview in 2006. Both will eventually be posted on Radio Wolinsky.

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