(born 1925) Patrician chronicler, playwright and critic of the American century Vidal has skewered politics, sexuality and religion in novels and essays, identifying himself with the historical establishment through family ties, yet standing outside it through his wit, homosexuality and preferences for Europe. The City and the Pillar (1948) shocked readers with its discussion of homosexuality while in Myra Breckinridge (1968) the sexual/media satire is broad. Messiah (1954) tackles American religion. Historical novels, including Burr (1973), Lincoln (1984), Hollywood (1990) and The Smithsonian Institution (1998) recast American history Vidal, who twice ran for Congress, has published extensively as a liberal political critic and essayist on American sexuality (Gore Vidal, Sexually Speaking, 1999).