Hollywood

Gore Vidal's fifth Narratives of Empire novel moves between the corridors of Washington power and the flickering screens of early Hollywood as America enters the First World War. Newspaper publisher Caroline Sanford reinvents herself as a screen actress under an assumed name, discovering that the new medium's ability to shape reality rivals anything the press can manage. Against this backdrop, the nation navigates between its democratic ideals and its imperial appetites.

Grover Gardner narrates Vidal's dense, ironic prose with the authority it demands — his deep, assured voice suits a writer who treats history as a series of interlocking deceits. The novel's double perspective, Washington and Hollywood as twin engines of American mythology, benefits from a narrator who can shade between satire and genuine dramatic weight. At just over 21 hours, this is a substantial historical listen with considerable intellectual reward.